Data from: Wound treatment and selective help in a termite-hunting ant.

Open wounds are a major health risk in animals, with species prone to injuries likely developing means to reduce these risks. We therefore analysed the behavioural response towards open wounds on the social and individual level in the termite group-hunting ant Megaponera analis. During termite raids some ants get injured by termite soldiers (biting off extremities), after the fight injured ants get carried back to the nest by nestmates. We observed treatment of the injury by nestmates inside the nest through intense allogrooming at the wound. Lack of treatment increased mortality from 10% to 80% within 24 hours, most likely due to infections. Wound clotting occurred extraordinarily fast in untreated injured individuals, within ten minutes. Furthermore, heavily injured ants (loss of five extremities) were not rescued or treated; this was regulated not by the helper but by the unresponsiveness of the injured ant. Interestingly, lightly injured ants behaved "more injured" near nestmates. We show organized social wound treatment in insects through a multifaceted help system focused on injured individuals. This was not only limited to selective rescuing of lightly injured individuals by carrying them back (thus reducing predation risk), but moreover included a differentiated treatment inside the nest.开放性伤口是动物面临的主要健康风险之一，易遭受损伤的物种往往演化出相应策略以降低此类风险。据此，我们针对结群捕猎白蚁的大齿猛蚁（Megaponera analis），从社会与个体层面分析了其对开放性伤口的行为响应。在白蚁捕猎行动中，部分蚂蚁会被白蚁兵蚁击伤，其附肢被咬断，战斗结束后，受伤蚂蚁会被同巢伙伴带回蚁巢。我们观察到，巢内的同巢伙伴会通过对伤口进行高强度的异体理毛（allogrooming）来处理伤口。若缺乏此类处理，受伤个体的死亡率会在24小时内从10%升至80%，该现象大概率由感染引发。未接受处理的受伤个体伤口凝血速度极快，仅需十分钟即可完成。此外，伤势严重（失去5个附肢）的蚂蚁不会被救援或进行伤口处理，该调控并非由救助者决定，而是源于受伤蚂蚁自身的无响应行为。有趣的是，伤势较轻的蚂蚁在同巢伙伴面前会表现得"伤势更重"。我们的研究证明，昆虫存在系统性的社会伤口救治行为，其依托以受伤个体为核心的多维度救助系统。该系统不仅包括选择性救援伤势较轻的个体——将其带回蚁巢以降低被捕食风险，还涵盖蚁巢内部的差异化伤口处理流程。