title: A new type of exocrine gland and its function in mass recruitment in the ant Cylindromyrmex whymperi (Formicidae, Cerapachyinae).
abstract: Workers of the ant Cylindromyrmex whymperi display mass trail recruitment. Bioassays show that the trail pheromone originates from a unique gland between abdominal sternites 6 and 7. The gland has a hitherto unknown structural organization. Upon leaving the secretory cell, the duct cell widens to form a sclerotized pear-shaped reservoir chamber, lined with multiple duct cells. Each duct thus forms a miniature reservoir for the secretions of each single secretory cells, a novel structural arrangement in exocrine glands of social Hymenoptera.
authors.affiliation: University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. bruno.gobin@bio.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gobin
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rüppell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jungnickel
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Billen
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005088:Exocrine Glands / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012919:Social Behavior