Tentschert J, Kolmer K, Hölldobler B, Bestmann H J, Delabie J H, Heinze J
Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Germany.
Naturwissenschaften. 2001 Apr;88(4):175-8. doi: 10.1007/s001140100218.
Queens of the neotropical ponerine ant Pachycondyla cf. 'inversa' may co-operate during colony founding. One of several co-founding queens specializes in foraging, whereas the others remain in the nest and guard the brood. Division of labor is achieved by aggressive interactions, which result in the formation of dominance hierarchies. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry of cuticular hydrocarbons obtained from live queens by SPME revealed consistent differences between the patterns of cuticular hydrocarbons of queens with high versus low rank: only high-ranking queens showed considerable amounts of cuticular pentadecane (n-C15) and heptadecene (n-C17:1). These two substances presumably originate from the queens' Dufour glands.
新热带猛蚁属拟“inversa”的蚁后在群体建立过程中可能会合作。几只共同建立群体的蚁后中，有一只专门负责觅食，而其他蚁后则留在巢中守护幼虫。通过攻击性互动实现分工，这导致了优势等级制度的形成。通过固相微萃取（SPME）从活体蚁后身上获取的表皮碳氢化合物进行气相色谱和质谱分析，结果显示，高等级和低等级蚁后的表皮碳氢化合物模式存在一致差异：只有高等级蚁后显示出大量的表皮十五烷（n-C15）和十七烯（n-C17:1）。这两种物质可能来自蚁后的杜氏腺。
