Neotropical army ants are among the most specialized predators: each ant species is hunting on a narrowly selected number of ant species as their main prey, and some other arthropods are also included in their diet. Phil Hoenle and Chris von Beeren studied food webs between army ants and their prey, both in Costa Rica and in the Canandé Reserve in Ecuador. They used DNA barcodes to identify the ants’ prey in diurnal and noctornal raids, and followed a large number of colonies. Despite the huge distance between the two countries, they found a remarkable conservatism in the ants’ preferences: Army ant species that occurred in both Ecuador and Costa Rica showed a very similar prey composition.
