Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 20892, Bethesda, Maryland.
J Chem Ecol. 1991 Sep;17(9):1897-908. doi: 10.1007/BF00993736.
Chemical analyses of three species in the Neotropical ant genusMegalomyrmex have identified this taxon as the third myrmicine genus to produce alkaloids as major venom products. Workers ofM. leoninus and workers and ergatoids ofM. goeldii produce one or more of fourtrans-2,5-dialkylpyrrolidines previously identified in other myrmicine genera.M. modestus, on the other hand, is distinctive in producing the novel alkaloid (5E,8E)-3-butyl-5-hexylpyrrolizidine (5d), whose structure was established using a micro-Hofmann degradation sequence. The relationship ofMegalomyrmex to other alkaloid-producing ant genera is discussed along with the possible chemotaxonomic significance of the analyzed species when viewed in terms of the recognized species groups in this genus.
对三种新热带切叶蚁属 Megalomyrmex 物种的化学分析表明，该分类群是产生生物碱作为主要毒液产物的第三个拟黑多刺蚁属。M. leoninus 的工蚁和 M. goeldii 的工蚁和生殖型产生了以前在其他拟黑多刺蚁属中鉴定出的一种或多种四种反式-2,5-二烷基吡咯烷。另一方面，M. modestus 的特点是产生新型生物碱（5E,8E）-3-丁基-5-己基吡咯里西啶（5d），其结构是使用微霍夫曼降解序列确定的。讨论了 Megalomyrmex 与其他产生生物碱的蚂蚁属的关系，以及从该属公认的物种群的角度来看，分析物种的可能化学分类学意义。
