Solitary foraging in the ancestral South American ant, Pogonomyrmex vermiculatus. Is it due to constraints in the production or perception of trail pheromones?
Author
dc.contributor.author
Torres Contreras, Hugo
Author
dc.contributor.author
Olivares-Donoso, Ruby
Author
dc.contributor.author
Niemeyer, Hermann M.
Admission date
dc.date.accessioned
2018-12-20T14:11:21Z
Available date
dc.date.available
2018-12-20T14:11:21Z
Publication date
dc.date.issued
2007
Cita de ítem
dc.identifier.citation
Journal of Chemical Ecology, Volumen 33, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 435-440
Identifier
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00980331
Identifier
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15731561
Identifier
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10.1007/s10886-006-9240-7
Identifier
dc.identifier.uri
https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/154568
Abstract
dc.description.abstract
Several North American species of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants exhibit group foraging, whereas South American species are exclusively solitary foragers. The composition of the secretions of the poison and Dufour glands in the South American species, Pogonomyrmex vermiculatus, were analyzed, and the secretions and their components were tested as trail pheromones in laboratory bioassays. The major compounds in the poison gland were the alkylpyrazines, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine. The Dufour gland contained five alkanes, from tridecane to heptadecane, with pentadecane being most abundant. In behavioral bioassays, poison gland extracts and the mixture of pyrazines produced a trail pheromone effect, whereas the Dufour gland extracts and the alkanes had no effect on ant locomotion. We conclude that group foraging in P. vermiculatus does not arise from the inability to produce or detect possible pheromones, but rather, from physiological and/
Solitary foraging in the ancestral South American ant, Pogonomyrmex vermiculatus. Is it due to constraints in the production or perception of trail pheromones?