Contents of poison apparatus and their relation to trail-following in the ant Daceton armigerum

E. David Morgan, Bert Hölldobler, Tomas Vaisar, Brian D. Jackson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The poison gland, which is the source of the trail pheromone in Daceton armigerum, contains a mixture of dimethylpyrazine, trimethylpyrazine and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine in approximately equal proportions, similar to that of the ant Manica rubida. The cross-activity in trail-following tests with several other species can thus be explained. The Dufour gland of D. armigerum contains a mixture of 26 identified hydrocarbons, chiefly 9-tricosene, tricosane, and 9-pentacosene. It also contains very small amounts of two sesquiterpene aldehydes, tetramorine-2 and tetramorine-3, already known in other myrmicine Dufour glands. No volatile substances were detected in the pygidial gland.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2161-2168
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Chemical Ecology
Volume18
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 1992
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ants
  • Dufour gland
  • Formicidae
  • Hymenoptera
  • alkylpyrazines
  • poison gland
  • tetramorine
  • trail following

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Biochemistry

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