Identification of the Trail Pheromone of the Pavement Ant Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Author(s):  
Jaime M. Chalissery ◽  
Regine Gries ◽  
Santosh K. Alamsetti ◽  
Madison J. Ardiel ◽  
Gerhard Gries
Keyword(s):  
1975 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Huwyler ◽  
K. Grob ◽  
M. Viscontini

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (81) ◽  
pp. 20121009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomer J. Czaczkes ◽  
Christoph Grüter ◽  
Francis L. W. Ratnieks

Crowding in human transport networks reduces efficiency. Efficiency can be increased by appropriate control mechanisms, which are often imposed externally. Ant colonies also have distribution networks to feeding sites outside the nest and can experience crowding. However, ants do not have external controllers or leaders. Here, we report a self-organized negative feedback mechanism, based on local information, which downregulates the production of recruitment signals in crowded parts of a network by Lasius niger ants. We controlled crowding by manipulating trail width and the number of ants on a trail, and observed a 5.6-fold reduction in the number of ants depositing trail pheromone from least to most crowded conditions. We also simulated crowding by placing glass beads covered in nest-mate cuticular hydrocarbons on the trail. After 10 bead encounters over 20 cm, forager ants were 45 per cent less likely to deposit pheromone. The mechanism of negative feedback reported here is unusual in that it acts by downregulating the production of a positive feedback signal, rather than by direct inhibition or the production of an inhibitory signal.


1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Klochkov ◽  
A. N. Pushin
Keyword(s):  

2008 ◽  
pp. 3841-3841
Author(s):  
James E. O’Hara ◽  
Igor UsUpensky ◽  
N. J. Bostanian ◽  
John L. Capinera ◽  
Reg Chapman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 1230-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiriki Sunamura ◽  
Shun Suzuki ◽  
Koji Nishisue ◽  
Hironori Sakamoto ◽  
Megumi Otsuka ◽  
...  

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. 1511-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Fitzgerald ◽  
F. X. Webster

Behavioral assays show that the steroid 5β-cholestan-3-one, isolated from the abdomen of the larva of the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria), constitutes the chemical basis of trail following in this insect. Caterpillars follow artificial trails prepared from solvent dilutions of the compound at rates as low as 10−11 g∙mm−11 of trail, though the true threshold sensitivity is likely to be one or two orders of magnitude lower than this. Fourth-instar caterpillars store an average of 58 ng of the pheromone. Field and laboratory studies indicate that the compound is fully competitive with their authentic trails. The caterpillars are highly sensitive to differences in the concentration of the pheromone, preferring stronger trails to weaker trails. The caterpillars also respond to 5β-cholestane-3,24-dione, a chemical not found in M. disstria but known to be a component of the trail pheromone of the eastern tent caterpillar, Malacosoma americanum.


1987 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Crump ◽  
Robert M. Silverstein ◽  
Howard J. Williams ◽  
Terrence D. Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime M. Chalissery ◽  
Asim Renyard ◽  
Regine Gries ◽  
Danielle Hoefele ◽  
Santosh Kumar Alamsetti ◽  
...  

Ants deposit trail pheromones that guide nestmates to food sources. We tested the hypotheses that ant community members (Western carpenter ants, Camponotus modoc; black garden ants, Lasius niger; European fire ants, Myrmica rubra) (1) sense, and follow, each other’s trail pheromones, and (2) fail to recognize trail pheromones of allopatric ants (pavement ants, Tetramorium caespitum; desert harvester ants, Novomessor albisetosus; Argentine ants, Linepithema humilis). In gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection analyses of a six-species synthetic trail pheromone blend (6-TPB), La. niger, Ca. modoc, and M. rubra sensed the trail pheromones of all community members and unexpectedly that of T. caespitum. Except for La. niger, all species did not recognize the trail pheromones of N. albisetosus and Li. humilis. In bioassays, La. niger workers followed the 6-TPB trail for longer distances than their own trail pheromone, indicating an additive effect of con- and hetero-specific pheromones on trail-following. Moreover, Ca. modoc workers followed the 6-TPB and their own trail pheromones for similar distances, indicating no adverse effects of heterospecific pheromones on trail-following. Our data show that ant community members eavesdrop on each other’s trail pheromones, and that multiple pheromones can be combined in a lure that guides multiple species of pest ants to lethal food baits.


Tetrahedron ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 43 (13) ◽  
pp. 2897-2900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco M. Alvarez ◽  
Robert K. Vander Meer ◽  
Clifford S. Lofgren

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document