Effect of a Gregarine Parasite on the Color of Myrmecia pilosula (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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Abstract
Soft-bodied brown ants were found in some colonies of the black ant Myrmecia pilosula (F. Smith) during the season when young adult workers eclose. Brown workers were previously thought to be young callows whose cuticle had not yet darkened. Strong evidence is presented against this hypothesis. Furthermore, all brown ants dissected (n = 50) were found to contain very many spores of a gregarine protozoan parasite. Normal black workers of M. pilosula usually contained no gregarine spores. Aberrant brown workers discovered in two other species of Myrmecia were also found to have hemocoeles filled with gregarine spores. It seems likely that the gregarine parasite, when present in very large numbers, interferes with the normal darkening of cuticle in the pupal stage, leading to abnormal brown ants.

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