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Gustatory perception and metabolic utilization of sugars by Myrmica rubra ant workers

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Abstract

The suitability of various nectar and honeydew sugars as a food source for the polyphagous ant species M. rubra (L.) was studied. The sugars used included monosaccharides (fructose, glucose, galactose, mannose, rhamnose), disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, trehalose, melibiose, lactose) and trisaccharides (melizitose, raffinose, erlose). Single-sugar solutions were tested on ant workers in a long-term laboratory bioassay in which acceptance of the solutions and ant survival were recorded. The acceptance of the sugars was confirmed in a second bioassay in which feeding time was established. Enzymatic hydrolysis of sucrose, maltose and melibiose was investigated through HPLC analyses of workers fed these disaccharides. Sugar acceptance and feeding time were related to ant survival. Considering the monosaccharide units of which the sugars are composed, fructose seems especially suitable as a short-term energy source, while glucose appears to be used both directly and for storage. The presence of a galactose unit appears to reduce sugar suitability. It is suggested that the workers possess invertase and maltase and to a lesser degree also galactosidase. The gustatory perception is correlated with the profitability of sugars in further metabolic processes.

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Acknowledgements

Bioassays were performed partly in the laboratory of Monika Hilker (Angewandte Zoologie / Ökologie der Tiere, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) to whom J.L.B. is indebted. We thank Roel Wagenaar for his technical assistance during HPLC, Gerrit Meijer for his statistical assistance, Flavio Roces, Jörg Romeis, Claire Detrain and an anonymous referee for their critical and constructive comments on the manuscript, and Ann-Marie Michel for correcting the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département d'Entomologie, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, IRSNB-KBIN, rue Vautier 29, 1000 , Brussels, Belgium

    Jean-Luc Boevé

  2. Netherlands Institute for Ecology, CTO, PO Box 40, 6666, ZG Heteren, The Netherlands

    Felix L. Wäckers

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  1. Jean-Luc Boevé
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  2. Felix L. Wäckers
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Correspondence to Jean-Luc Boevé.

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Boevé, JL., Wäckers, F.L. Gustatory perception and metabolic utilization of sugars by Myrmica rubra ant workers. Oecologia 136, 508–514 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1249-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1249-9

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