Zusammenfassung
Discrimination between nestmates and non-nestmates in social insects is thought to rely on the pattern of cuticular hydrocarbons. We investigated the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of 2 parapatric sibling ant species, Temnothorax nylanderi (Forster, 1850) and Temnothorax crassispinus (Karavaiev, 1926), and their hybrid. We found that although the profiles show considerable similarities, a ...
Zusammenfassung
Discrimination between nestmates and non-nestmates in social insects is thought to rely on the pattern of cuticular hydrocarbons. We investigated the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of 2 parapatric sibling ant species, Temnothorax nylanderi (Forster, 1850) and Temnothorax crassispinus (Karavaiev, 1926), and their hybrid. We found that although the profiles show considerable similarities, a discriminant analysis based on the relative peak areas of cuticular hydrocarbons separates the 3 taxa. The profiles of hybrids were not consistently intermediate between those of the paternal species, suggesting either non-additive interactions among the parental biosynthetic pathways or systematic differences in environment-derived odor cues.
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