ArticleBiology letters2012
Learning and discrimination of cuticular hydrocarbons in a social insect.
Article in Biology letters, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Consistent Cuticular Hydrocarbon Discrimination of Alkane Mixtures with Proportional Differences in the Ant Camponotus floridanus.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Discrimination of Methyl-Branched Hydrocarbons by Tetramorium tsushimae Ants: a Focus on Branch Position and Chain Length.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Ant responses in a lycaenid-ant symbiosis are not facilitated by cuticular compounds alone.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Using pupae as appetitive reinforcement to study visual and tactile associative learning in the Ponerine ant Diacamma indicum.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Aphids harbouring different endosymbionts exhibit differences in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles that can be recognized by ant mutualists.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Differential Behavioral Responses of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Workers Toward Nestmate and Non-Nestmate Corpses.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2020Article
- Ants learn fast and do not forget: associative olfactory learning, memory and extinction inRoyal Society open science · 2019Article
- Desiccation Resistance and Micro-Climate Adaptation: Cuticular Hydrocarbon Signatures of Different Argentine Ant Supercolonies Across California.Journal of chemical ecology · 2018Article
- Cuticular hydrocarbons correlate with queen reproductive status in native and invasive Argentine ants (Linepithema humile, Mayr).PloS one · 2018Article
- Tetramorium tsushimae Ants Use Methyl Branched Hydrocarbons of Aphids for Partner Recognition.Journal of chemical ecology · 2017Article
- What are the Mechanisms Behind a Parasite-Induced Decline in Nestmate Recognition in Ants?Journal of chemical ecology · 2017Article
- Breaking the cipher: ant eavesdropping on the variational trail pheromone of its termite prey.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Lack of aggression and apparent altruism towards intruders in a primitive termite.Royal Society open science · 2016Article
- Olfactory experience shapes the evaluation of odour similarity in ants: a behavioural and computational analysis.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Efficacy of Chemical Mimicry by Aphid Predators Depends on Aphid-Learning by Ants.Journal of chemical ecology · 2016Article
- Ants Learn Aphid Species as Mutualistic Partners: Is the Learning Behavior Species-Specific?Journal of chemical ecology · 2015Article
- The scent of mixtures: rules of odour processing in ants.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- Separation of Scaptotrigona postica workers into defined task groups by the chemical profile on their epicuticle wax layer.Journal of chemical ecology · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social insect cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) mixtures are among the most complex chemical cues known and are important in nest-mate, caste and species recognition. Despite our growing knowledge of the nature of these cues, we have very little insight into how social insects actually perceive and discriminate among these chemicals. In this study, we use the newly developed technique of differential olfactory conditioning to pure, custom-designed synthetic colony odours to analyse signal discrimination in Argentine ants, Linepithema humile. Our results show that tri-methyl alkanes are more easily learned than single-methyl or straight-chain alkanes. In addition, we reveal that Argentine ants can discriminate between hydrocarbons with different branching patterns and the same chain length, but not always between hydrocarbons with the same branching patterns but different chain length. Our data thus show that biochemical characteristics influence those compounds that ants can discriminate between, and which thus potentially play a role in chemical signalling and nest-mate recognition.
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