Morphology and load transport behaviour of the seed-harvesting ant Messor barbarus Linnaeus 1767

This Excel file contains two datasets. The first dataset (sheet “Morphometric data”) gives the measure of thorax length, body mass as well as the mass of main body segments of 57 individual workers of the ant species Messor barbarus Linnaeus 1767. The workers originated from a colony collected in Saint-Hippolyte, France (42°80 N, 2°98 E) in October 2013. The second dataset (sheet “Transportation data”) relates to observations aiming at investigating the efficiency of M. barbarus workers when transporting pieces of dry pasta on their foraging trails. The data gives the body mass, the characteristics of the item transported, the transportation method (carry or drag), as well as the time required to travel a distance of 1m for 239 individual workers from five colonies located on the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain (41°30′00N, 2°06′49E). For each ant followed the air temperature at ground level is also indicated.