Hydrocarbon signals explain the pattern of worker and egg policing in the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli.

Journal of Chemical Ecology
Adrian A SmithJürgen Liebig

Abstract

In ant societies, worker reproduction is regulated through policing behaviors, such as physical aggression or egg eating. The information used by policing individuals is thought to be in blends of hydrocarbons present on the cuticle and the surface of eggs. These fertility signals have been studied in numerous genera. However, signaling patterns that emerge across distinct subfamilies of ants have yet to be explained. We investigated policing behavior and the chemical signaling upon which policing behaviors are informed in the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli. We found that worker-produced eggs are not policed, and we showed that there is a lack of chemical signaling for effective egg policing to occur in this species. Furthermore, we identified the available signals that demarcate workers to be policed physically. We showed that in A. cockerelli, a species with derived social organization, workers produce fertility signals identical to the queen. This queen-like signaling may be due to workers maintaining a high level of ovarian activity, linked to trophic egg production, in the presence of the queen.

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Citations

Jan 22, 2011·Die Naturwissenschaften·Adrian A SmithJürgen Liebig
Oct 28, 2010·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Dani Moore, Jürgen Liebig
Jan 18, 2014·Science·Annette Van OystaeyenTom Wenseleers
Apr 24, 2014·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Serafino TeseoNicolas Châline
Nov 21, 2015·Die Naturwissenschaften·Jessica D EbieJürgen Liebig
Nov 14, 2013·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Jelle S van ZwedenPatrizia d'Ettorre
May 29, 2015·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Boris YagoundNicolas Châline
Jun 12, 2010·Communicative & Integrative Biology·Jelle S van Zweden
Mar 13, 2009·Current Biology : CB·Michel Chapuisat
May 1, 2015·Natural Product Reports·Constanze Kuhlisch, Georg Pohnert
Oct 7, 2009·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jacobus J Boomsma
Oct 7, 2009·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Francis L W Ratnieks, Heikki Helanterä
May 29, 2012·Animal Cognition·Francesca GherardiElena Tricarico
Jan 23, 2013·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jacobus J Boomsma
Jul 25, 2009·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Susan C Edwards, Stephen C Pratt
Feb 4, 2021·Scientific Reports·Nathan T DerstineEtya Amsalem
Mar 24, 2021·Frontiers in Zoology·Pauline LenanckerLori Lach

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