Abstract
When an insect walks, it leaves chemical cues that derive from the arolium, a tarsal structure. These cues may contain important information about other species that occur in their community and can then mediate interactions of competition, predation, and information about resources with ants from their own colony. The compounds of these cues are released into the substrate in the form of chemical footprints. There are still few species studied, and little is known about the behavior of ants regarding these signals and how they use them in their interactions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the behavioral strategy of different ant species when confronted with chemical footprints left by other ants, as well as identify their compounds and their relationship with the cuticular hydrocarbon profile. The experiments were performed using a Y-maze, where in one of the arms, there were chemical footprints of their own species or of other species, and the other Y arm was footprint-free. The chemical compounds of footprints and cuticle were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results show that foragers of all species detect and respond to the presence of chemical cues in the form of footprints left by other ants. Foragers of all species followed footprints of individuals of the same species both nestmates and non-nestmates; however, Neoponera villosa avoided the footprints of Cephalotes borgmeieri, and C. borgmeieri avoided the footprints of the other two species. The chemical compositions of the cuticle and footprints are related to each other and are specific to each species.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Rodrigo S.M. Feitosa, PhD, and Aline M. Oliveira, PhD, for the species identification.
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This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (concession numbers 88882.457261/2019–01 and 88887.704043/2022–00 to PGS), in addition to Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (concession number 312671/2021–0 to CALC).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by PGS, EGS, ICG, CALC, SELJ, and WFAJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by PGS, and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors have given consent to submit this manuscript and have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work.
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dos Santos, P.G., dos Santos, E.G., de Carvalho Guimarães, I. et al. Hydrocarbons in Formicidae: influence of chemical footprints on ant behavioral strategies. Sci Nat 111, 24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-024-01908-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-024-01908-6