Dinoponera quadriceps

Monnin, T. and Peeters, C. (1997). Cannibalism of subordinates eggs in the monogynous queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps. Naturwissenschaften, 84,499-502. 

Monnin T., Malosse C., and Peeters C. (1998). Solid-phase microextraction and cuticular hydrocarbon differences related to reproductive activity in the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps. J. Chem. Ecol., 24,473 190. 

When only single compounds on the cuticle relate to differences in fertility, the same differences can be found in eggs. In Dinoponera quadriceps the concentration of (Z)9-C31 1 present on the cuticle of the egg-layers is represented at equal proportions in the profile of their eggs (Monnin and Peeters, 1997). A similarly close match of hydrocarbon profiles of the cuticle and the eggs is present in queens and workers of the ant Pachycondyla inversa (D Ettorre et al., 2004b). 

Fig. 2.3 Most animals have both anonymous pheromone signals and signature mixtures (Wyatt 2010). This is demonstrated in the cuticular hydrocarbons of the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps (Monnin et al. 1998). A gas chromatographic analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbons on the alpha female, the only fertilized and egg-laying individual in the colony, shows the anonymous hydrocarbon pheromone 9-hentriacontene (indicated by the asterisk) characteristic of alpha females in all colonies, together with the diverse range of other hydrocarbons which make up the colony odor. Her fellow colony members have the colony odor but lack the 9-hentriacontene. Ants photograph, courtesy Thibaud Monnin. Gas chromatogram, Monnin et al. (1998), with permission...

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