Individual, geographical and experimental variation of cuticular hydrocarbons of the ant cataglyphis cursor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Their use in nest and subspecies recognition

• Published in: Biochemical systematics and ecology 1990, Vol.18 (1), p.63-73
• Main Authors: Nowbahari, E., Lenoir, A., Clément, J.L., Lange, C., Bagneres, A.G., Joulie, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aggressive behavior; Animal ethology; Biological and medical sciences; Cataglyphis cursor; chemical communication; colonial; colony defense; colony recognition; cuticle; cuticula; Formica; Formicidae; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; hydrocarbon composition; hydrocarbons; Hymenoptera; integument; Invertebrates; odor; populations; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; taxonomy
• ISSN: 0305-1978; 1873-2925
• DOI: 10.1016/0305-1978(90)90036-F

The cuticular hydrocarbons of Cataglyphis cursor (Fonsc.) adults have been identified and quantified. Comparison of the proportion of hydrocarbons in various locations shows a variation between populations from each side of the Rhǒne river and an isolated population in the mountains near Madrid. In the studied area (not including Italy and eastern places) at least three subspecies have been found. Ethological analyses show that colony recognition, as indicated by aggressive behavior and the possibilities of adoption in an allen society, is correlated with the composition of cuticular hydrocarbons. Callows can be adopted in an allen colony, they can live in two colonies where the adults do not tolerate each other. These adopted callows have a hydrocarbon pattern intermediate between the patterns of the another colony and the adoptive colony.