Abstract
Workers of polydomous colonies of social insects must recognize not only colony-mates residing in the same nest but also those living in other nests. We investigated the impact of a decentralized colony structure on colony- and nestmate recognition in the polydomous Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus). Field experiments showed that ants of colonies with many nests were less aggressive toward alien conspecifics than those of colonies with few nests. In addition, while meat ants were almost never aggressive toward nestmates, they were frequently aggressive when confronted with an individual from a different nest within the same colony. Our chemical analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbons of workers using a novel comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography technique that increases the number of quantifiable compounds revealed both colony- and nest-specific patterns. Combined, these data indicate an incomplete transfer of colony odor between the nests of polydomous meat ant colonies.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship awarded by the Australian government, a Melbourne International Research Scholarship awarded by the University of Melbourne, the Holsworth Wildlife Research Fund, and the Joyce W. Vickery Scientific Research Fund of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. We would like to thank Ian and Linda Mclean for their generosity in permitting fieldwork on their property.
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van Wilgenburg, E., Ryan, D., Morrison, P. et al. Nest- and colony-mate recognition in polydomous colonies of meat ants (Iridomyrmex purpureus). Naturwissenschaften 93, 309–314 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0109-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0109-y