Pokorny, Tamara and Sieber, Lisa-Marie and Hofferberth, John E. and Bernadou, Abel and Ruther, Joachim (2020) Age-dependent release of and response to alarm pheromone in a ponerine ant. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, 223 (6): jeb218040. ISSN 0022-0949, 1477-9145
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Social insect societies are characterized by division of labour and communication within the colony. The most frequent mode of communication is by chemical signals. In general, pheromones elicit specific responses in the receiver, although reactions may vary depending on the receiving individual's physiological or motivational state. For example, it has been shown that pheromones can elicit different responses in morphological worker castes. However, comparably little is known about such effects in worker castes of monomorphic species. Here, we comprehensively studied a monomorphic species showing age polyethism, the thelytokous ant Platythyrea punctata. Our analyses revealed that the species' alarm pheromone consists of (S)-(-)-citronellal and (S)-(-)-actinidine, and is produced in the mandibular glands. Ants responded with increased movement activity and increasing ant density towards the pheromone source in whole-colony bioassays, confirming the alarming effect of these compounds. We found age classes to differ in their absolute pheromone content, in the propensity to release alarm pheromone upon disturbance and in their reaction towards the pheromone. Absolute amounts of pheromone content may differ simply because the biosynthesis of the pheromone begins only after adult eclosion. Nonetheless, our results indicate that this clonal species exhibits agerelated polyethism in the emission of as well as in the response to its alarm pheromone.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | DIVISION-OF-LABOR; DEFENSE SYSTEM; HYMENOPTERA-FORMICIDAE; CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION; NESTMATE RECOGNITION; BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES; QUEEN PHEROMONE; APIS-MELLIFERA; CUTTING ANT; FIRE ANT; Age polyethism; Platythyrea punctata; (S)-(-)-Citronellal; (S)-(-)-Actinidine |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Chemische Ökologie (Prof. Dr. Joachim Ruther) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Mar 2021 09:49 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Mar 2021 09:49 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/44977 |
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