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Journal of Experimental Biology 151,71-82 (1990)
Published by Company of Biologists 1990

Slow Discontinuous Ventilation in the Namib Dune-sea Ant Camponotus Detritus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

JOHN R. LIGHTON ¹

¹ LBES/UCLA, 900 Vetern Avenue, Los Angles, CA 90024, USA; Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

Data on discontinuous ventilation phenomena in Camponotus detritus (Emery), an ant from the hyper-arid Namib Desert, are described and compared to equivalent data from two mesic insects, including Camponotus vicinus (Mayr). Although rate of CO₂ production (V_co2 and body size were equivalent in C. detritus and C. vicinus, the ventilation rate of C. detritus was fourfold lower, significantly reducing predicted respiratory water loss rates. Ventilation rate was presumably modulated by V_co2, and low ventilation frequency was maintained in part by significant gas exchange during the fluttering-spiracle phase of the ventilation cycle, which is generally characterized by low rates of respiratory water loss.

Key words: insect ventilation, respiration, water loss

Accepted on December 20, 1989

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