Abstract
Four species of Tetramorium pavement ants are known to guide foraging activities of nestmates via trail pheromones secreted from the poison gland of worker ants, but the trail pheromone of T. immigrans is unknown. Our objectives were to (1) determine whether poison gland extract of T. immigrans workers induces trail-following behavior of nestmates, (2) identify the trail pheromone, and (3) test whether synthetic trail pheromone induces trail-following behavior of workers. In laboratory no-choice bioassays, ants followed poison-gland-extract trails farther than they followed whole-body-extract trails or solvent-control trails. Gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) analyses of poison gland extract revealed a single candidate pheromone component (CPC) that elicited responses from worker ant antennae. The CPC mass spectrum indicated, and an authentic standard confirmed, that the CPC was methyl 2-methoxy-6-methylbenzoate (MMMB). In further laboratory no-choice bioassays, ants followed poison-gland-extract trails (tested at 1 ant equivalent) and synthetic MMMB trails (tested at 0.35 ant equivalents) equally far, indicating that MMMB is the single-component trail pheromone of T. immigrans. Moreover, in laboratory two-choice bioassays, ants followed MMMB trails ~ 21-times farther than solvent-control trails. In field settings, when T. immigrans colonies were offered a choice between two paper strips treated with a synthetic MMMB trail or a solvent-control trail, each leading to an apple bait, the MMMB trails efficiently recruited nestmates to baits.
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All data are presented in the main body of the manuscript.
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Acknowledgements
We thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments, Devon Rai and his family for permission to run replicates of the field experiment on their property, Adam Blake and Asim Renyard for advice on statistical analyses and graphical illustrations, Asim Renyard and Sean McCann for help locating and identifying the ants that were collected for laboratory colonies, April Lin, Jasper Li, Kai Zhang, Kelvin Lau, Kristy Lok, Saif Nayani, and Srishti Kumar for help with ant colony maintenance, and Sharon Oliver for word processing and comments.
Funding
This research was supported by a MPM Graduate Entrance Scholarship, a Graduate Fellowship, and the Dr. H.R. MacCarthy Graduate Bursary from Simon Fraser University, and the Mildred Wells Scholarship from the BC Council of Garden Clubs, to JMC. The research was further supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)—Industrial Research Chair to GG with BASF Canada Ltd. and Scotts Canada Inc. as the industrial sponsors.
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Chalissery, J.M., Gries, R., Alamsetti, S.K. et al. Identification of the Trail Pheromone of the Pavement Ant Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Chem Ecol 48, 302–311 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01317-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01317-3