The chemical basis for species and colony recognition in three species of myrmiane ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Winterbottom, Sharron (1980) The chemical basis for species and colony recognition in three species of myrmiane ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The means by which three species of ants in the genus Myrmica recognise members of different species and different colonies has been investigated by studying the aggressive behaviour of workers when members of foreign species and colonies enter their nest. The agonistic behaviour of these workers can be broken down into a series of five main responses, the first of which is a close antennal investigation, after which occur a series of increasingly aggressive responses culminating in attempts to sting a foreign ant, or to expel it from the nest. Foreign workers are recognised by differences in chemical compounds on the body surface, which are detected by antennal contact, and referred to as a 'species odour' and 'colony odour'. Queens also possess both a species odour and a colony odour and are attacked when entering a foreign nest. Nevertheless, a queenless colony of Myrmica rubra after an initial attack upon a foreign colony queen will accept her into the nest, although she cannot modify the workers' egg-laying behaviour to the same extent as their own queen. Eggs and larvae possess a species odour but no colony odour, and workers will raise larvae of a different colony and do not attack the emerging callows. Gas chromatographic analysis has shown that the three species studied produce a different proportional mixture of chemicals in the secretion of their Dufour's gland which accounts for the species odour. Workers react aggressively to an isolated Dufour's gland of a different species, and workers of M.rubra react aggressively to the major components of the Dufour's gland secretion of M.scabrinodis. The colony odour of M.rubra is produced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors, being a product of the mixed odours of workers of different genetic origins in a nest, modified by external odours such as nest soil, food sources, and other insects encountered. The odour of a M.rubra worker or queen can be altered by her being kept in a foreign colony for a few weeks, to such an extent that members of her original colony attack her when she is returned to them.Myrmica rubra workers are more aggressive to members of foreign species than to members of foreign colonies, but M.scabrinadis and M.sabuleti workers are equally aggressive to both members of foreign species and foreign colonies. The significance of this is discussed in relation to the numbers of queens in the colonies of each species, and the degree of colony 'distinctness' of each.

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