Evidence for Volatile and Contact Signals of Nestmate Recognition in the Black Shining Ant Lasius fuliginosus Latreille (Hymenoptera : Formicidae)

概要

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Lasius fuliginosus workers were observed to be aggressive towards foreign workers with menacing, turning on and biting, whereas they were calm to nestmate workers with antennation and occasional regurgitation. The workers, however, alerted to a nestmate lodged at the foreigner's nest for two weeks even though the nestmate never had direct body contact with the foreigners. They menaced and turning on towards the nestmate, but immediately lost aggressiveness when they contacted the nestmate with their antennae. In contrast, the workers appeared to pay no attention to a foreigner lodged at their own nest for two weeks before contacting it. But they suddenly turned to be aggressive towards the foreigner when they brushed it in passing. Without such body contact, the workers responded aggressively towards not a nestmate but a foreigner, when the nestmate and the foreigner lodged at their own nest and the foreigner's nest, respectively. This evidences suggest the existence of both volatile and non-volatile signals serving as nestmate recognition cue in L. fuliginosus, and the volatile signals may serve as a transient cue while the non-volatile signal may be more critical for nestmate recognition.
日本昆虫学会の論文
2000-03-25