Odontomachus troglodytes

Odontomachus troglodytes demonstrates that of the four compounds produced by workers, three, 2,6-dimethyl-3-butyl pyrazine, and its 3-pentyl and 3-hexyl homologues all release the same behavior pattern in worker ants. These ants are alerted, approach the source with mandibles opened, where some of them attack. The fourth compound, 2,6-dimethyl-3-ethyl pyrazine, has no detectable communicative role between workers, even though it is not the least abundant of the four compounds in the whole secretion. There is no qualitative difference between the behavior patterns released by the three other compounds in the secretion, and the workers response to the whole secretion can be explained in terms of any one of these single components (Longhurst et al., 1978). 

Male ants are often more frail than the workers, and hence ready perception of alarm pheromones should be of advantage to them. The alkyl pyrazines which communicate alarm between workers of Odontomachus troglodytes (see above) release a quite different behavior in males, which retreat and hide imder any suitable object nearby (Longhurst et al., 1978). Alarm pheromones identical to those found in workers are found in males of some species, not in others. In cases where the mandibular glands are used by workers for this purpose, the same or a similar secretion often occurs in males (Crewe, 1973 Brand et al., 1973 Bradshaw et al., 1979b). 

Longhurst, C., Baker, R., Howse, P. E. and Speed, W. S. (1978) Alkyl pyrazines in ponerine ants their presence in three genera, and caste-specific behavioural responses to them in Odontomachus troglodytes. J. Insect Physiol., 24, 833-7. 

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