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Morphology of the Mandibular and Intramandibular Glands of Army Ant Workers of Labidus praedator (Smith 1858) and Labidus coecus (Latreille 1802) (Formicidae: Dorylinae)

  • Systematics, Morphology and Physiology
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Abstract

Social insects are characterized by having a wide diversity of exocrine glands, with highlights for ants with about 85 glands spreading throughout the body. The mandibular and intramandibular glands are associated with the production of pheromones. The army ants (Dorylinae) play an important role in the structure of the invertebrate community because they are efficient predators and provide suitable conditions for various animals following their invasions in the food search. Labidus coecus (Latreille) is an underground-ameliorating ant and Labidus praedator (Smith) is a generalist surface predator which can deplete invertebrate biomass by up to 75%. This work investigated the morphology of the mandibular and intramandibular glands of L. praedator and L. coecus workers. The glands were analyzed by light microscopy, histochemistry, and scanning electron microscopy. The mandibular and intramandibular glands of the two species were classified as class III glands. The data on the morphology of the mandibular glands has revealed that they have characteristics in common with other subfamilies. The intramandibular glands of the two species of Labidus have similar morphology and chemical composition, which indicates that the components of these glands can have the same function despite their different habits.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the MSc. Júlio Chaul for identification of the ant species and the Nucleus of Microscopy and Microanalysis of the Federal University of Viçosa for technical assistance.

Funding

Financial support was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (403986/2021–4, 303243/2022–8), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Geris (02367–18, 00856–19), and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (code 001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Biology, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Ana Paula Pereira Raimundo, Jamile Fernanda Silva Cossolin, Lídia Aparecida Dourado & José Eduardo Serrão

  2. Coordenação de Ciências Naturais, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus III, Bacabal, Maranhão, Brazil

    Pollyanna Pereira dos Santos

  3. Department of Plant and Animal Production, Vocational School of Technical Sciences, Kirsehir Ahi Evran University, Kirsehir, Turkey

    Hakan Bozdoğan

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  1. Ana Paula Pereira Raimundo
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  2. Pollyanna Pereira dos Santos
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  3. Jamile Fernanda Silva Cossolin
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  5. Hakan Bozdoğan
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APPR and JES: conceptualization and design; APPR: investigation, validation, formal analysis, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; PPS: methodology, validation; JFSC and LAD: validation, formal analysis; HB: writing—review; JES: validation, writing—review and editing, project administration and editing, funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to José Eduardo Serrão.

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Raimundo, A.P.P., Santos, P.P., Cossolin, J.F.S. et al. Morphology of the Mandibular and Intramandibular Glands of Army Ant Workers of Labidus praedator (Smith 1858) and Labidus coecus (Latreille 1802) (Formicidae: Dorylinae). Neotrop Entomol 52, 1129–1137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-023-01088-4

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