title: Learning and discrimination of cuticular hydrocarbons in a social insect.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ellenvw@berkeley.edu
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Wilgenburg
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Felden
authors.forename: Dong-Hwan
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sulc
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Elgar
authors.forename: Neil D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D000819:Animal Communication; D060105:Animal Shells / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D002140:California; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D006838:Hydrocarbons