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Highly specific responses to queen pheromone in three Lasius ant species

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Abstract

Queen pheromones mediate the reproductive division of labor in social insect colonies and provide novel opportunities for investigating the evolution of animal communication. Previous work found that queens in the ant genus Lasius produce several 3-methylalkanes in greater relative amounts than workers do. At least one of these (3-MeC31) is a queen pheromone that regulates worker sterility in two Lasius species, although there are indications that other 3-methylalkanes might also function as queen pheromones. Here, we presented workers from three Lasius species with four different 3-methylalkanes, and measured the effect on worker ovary development. In all three species, only 3-MeC31 showed clear evidence of inhibiting worker fecundity. Our results suggest that worker ants can discriminate homologous hydrocarbons that differ in chain length and only treat specific homologs as queen pheromones. These results provide insight into the conflicting selective pressures on cuticular hydrocarbons arising from their multiple roles in signaling and adaptation to the abiotic environment.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Kirsten and Mark Holman for assisting with the experiments. LH was supported by a DECRA fellowship from the Australian Research Council (DE140101481).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Division of Ecology, Evolution & Genetics, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Luke Holman

  2. Departments of Entomology and Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Brian Hanley & Jocelyn G. Millar

Authors
  1. Luke Holman
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  2. Brian Hanley
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  3. Jocelyn G. Millar
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Correspondence to Luke Holman.

Additional information

Communicated by R. F. A. Moritz

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Holman, L., Hanley, B. & Millar, J.G. Highly specific responses to queen pheromone in three Lasius ant species. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70, 387–392 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2058-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2058-6

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