Direct behavioral evidence for hydrocarbons as nestmate recognition cues in Formica japonica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

Here we report direct evidence that cuticular hydrocarbons are responsible for nestmate recognition in Formica japonica distributing in Southern Honshu in Japan. Workers showed aggressive behavior against foreign workers but not against nestmates. A similar response was observed when a glass dummy was treated with isolated hydrocarbons from foreign workers or nestmates. Among the isolated hydrocarbons, ten hydrocarbon components were identified: five nalkanes and five (Z)-9-alkenes with odd number of carbons from 25 to 33, in different ratios in different colonies. When synthetic hydrocarbons blended in the same ratio as natural blends were presented to workers, they showed aggressive responses against foreign blends but paid less attention to those of nestmates. Neither n-alkane nor (Z)-9-alkene blends, however, caused aggression response in foreign workers. Thus, both n-alkanes and (Z)-9-alkenes are necessary to discriminate nestmates from foreign conspecifics.

Negative feedback in ants: crowding results in less trail pheromone deposition

“…CHCs are used by ants to identify and discern nest-mates and non-nest-mates [32 -34]. CHCs-coated glass beads have been used successfully to mimic both nest-mate [35 -38] and non-nest-mate ants [33,36,38,39]. To prepare the beads, we collected 10 workers from the test colony, chilled them for 2 min at 2208C and then placed them in a glass vial with 500 ml pentane for 10 min to dissolve CHCs.…”

Genes versus environment: geography and phylogenetic relationships shape the chemical profiles of stingless bees on a global scale

“…An interesting chemical trait to investigate is the cuticular profile of social insects, because it represents a complex blend of several compound classes that can have largely different functions and whose composition is likely to be shaped by different evolutionary processes. The cuticular chemistry is known to be affected by genetic relatedness [3][4][5], season [6], geographical location [4,[7][8][9] and diet [10 -12], but few studies have investigated whether environmental and/or genetic factors differentially affect different classes of cuticular compounds. Cuticular profiles predominantly comprise non-polar hydrocarbons (n-alkanes, alkenes and methyl-branched alkanes), but can be enriched by polar compounds (such as alcohols, esters, ketones, aldehydes or oxidized terpenes; [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]).…”

A statistical approach to identify candidate cues for nestmate recognition

“…These cuticular lipids, synthesized by the animals themselves (Howard and Blomquist, 2005;, and partly obtained from environmental sources (Obin and Vander Meer, 1988;Woodrow et al, 2000;Buczkowski et al, 2005), are typically mixed throughout the colony by means of liquid food transfer, grooming, and exchange through nest material (Soroker et al, 1995;d'Ettorre et al, 2006;Couvillon et al, 2007;Bos et al, 2011). Direct evidence for the use of hydrocarbons in nestmate recognition has been obtained in several ant and bee species, by testing the level of aggression toward NMs supplemented with synthetic hydrocarbons (Lahav et al, 1999;Dani et al, 2005;Ozaki et al, 2005;Martin et al, 2008b;Guerrieri et al, 2009), or to inert materials treated with either the hydrocarbon profile of fellow workers or synthetic mixtures of hydrocarbons (Wagner et al, 2000;Akino et al, 2004;Greene and Gordon, 2007;Martin et al, 2008b). The use of these manipulative experiments has allowed researchers to provide not only direct evidence about the involvement of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) in nestmate recognition, but also information about which compounds constitute the nestmate recognition signal in specific species.…”