African weaver ant

Das et al. have explored the reaction of MBH acetates with unactivated alkyl halides in the presence of Zn in saturated aqueous NH4CI solution to afford stereoselective trisubstituted olefins. The reactions of 3-hydroxy-2-methylene-alkanoates 220 gave (2 )-2-substituted-alk-2-enoates 222 exclusively, whereas the reactions of 3-hydroxy-2-methylene-alkanenitriles 221 afforded (2Z)-2-substituted-alk-2-enenitriles 223 as major products with high ( -selectivity (Scheme 3.88). The methodology was successfully applied to the synthesis of (2 )-2-butyloct-2-enal 224, an alarm pheromone component of the African weaver ant, Oecophylla longinoday ... 

Workers of the African Weaver Ant, Oecophylla longinoda. Physiol. Entomol. 4, 15-25 (1979). 

HOlldobler, B. K. and Wilson, E. O. (1978) The multiple recruitment systems of the African weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda. Behav. Ecol. SociobioL, 3, 19-60. 

The most complex alarm communication system to be investigated to date is that of the African weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda (Formicinae), where no less than four glands are employed. One, the sternal gland, is used for short-range recruitment of nestmates to disturbances or prey items, and will be... 

The various worker castes frequently carry out different roles in defence. In many species there is a specialized soldier caste, whose behavior and exocrine chemistry may differ markedly from those of other workers (e.g.. Law et aL, 1965). Workers of the African weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda are dimorphic the major workers forage and defend the nests and territory, while the minor workers serve as nurses to the brood, and are rarely seen outside the nests (Weber, 1949). The blend of compounds in the mandibular glands differs markedly between the two castes (Bradshaw et aL, 1979b) all the compounds present in minor workers are alcohols, and three of the four compounds most important in alarm communication between majors are absent, namely hexanal, 3-undecanone and 2-butyl-2-octenal. The only abundant compound held in common is 1-hexanol, and the secretion in minor workers is largely made up of the monoterpene nerol. Both nerol and 1-hexanol are highly repellent to minor workers, and they are thus displaced from sources of both minor and major worker secretions. Nerol is a powerful attractant and arrestant for major workers. 

In many species, the trail pheromone is used in two distinct contexts, namely food retrieval and nest emigration. Hdlldobler and Wilson (1978) have distinguished no less than five types of recruitment in the African weaver ant, O. longinoda. The alarm and territorial pheromones of this species have already been discussed, and these, together with the recruitment systems, constitute the most complex use of chemical communication yet discovered in ants. 

Bradshaw, J. W. S. (1981) The physicochemical transmission of two components of a multiple chemical signal in the African weaver ant, (Oecophylla longinoda), Anim, Behav, 29, 581-5. 

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