Pheromone aggressive encounters

Chap. 13) result in dominant and subordinate males that potentially respond differently to females (Johansson and Jones 2007). A male s age and size significantly affects its success in aggressive encounters and, potentially, in mate choice (Huntingford et al. 1995 Sneddon et al. 1997 Smallegange and van der Meer 2007). Exposure to pheromones, in turn, also affects male-male aggressive encounters (Sneddon et al. 2003 Fletcher and Hardege 2009). 

Intrasexual competition is also a very important factor influencing mating behavior insects have developed a series of strategies in competing for a potential mate and the necessary food resources. Young rove beetle males, Aleochara curtula, which are not sexually active yet, but need access to food sources avoid aggressive encounters and expulsion by mimicking the female sex pheromone 438). 

Parrott, R.F., W.D. Booth, and B.A. Baldwin Aggression During Sexual Encounters Between Hormone-Treated Gonadectomized Pigs in the Presence or Absence of Boar Pheromones. Aggressive Behav. 11, 245-252 (1985). 

Two compounds in the urine of male mice trigger attacks by other males 3,4-dehydro-exo-brevicomin and 2-5CC-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole (Novotny etal., 1985b). The behavior of male mice depends on the context in which they encounter these compounds. When smeared on castrates or females, they release aggressive behavior, but applied to pups, they inhibit infanticide. Therefore, it appears to be more appropriate to consider the these as signals of maleness rather than aggression pheromones (Mucignat-Caretta etal., 2004). 

Aggressive behavior is released by the territorial pheromone of Oecophylla longinoda, however. This pheromone is located in the drops of brown rectal sac fluid which the workers deposit over the territorial surface. They are particularly active in marking any fresh areas which they may encounter, but established territory is also marked constantly, albeit at a greatly reduced rate. Workers which encounter spots of rectal sac fluid produced by members of another colony inspect them frequently with their antennae, and often adopt threat postures in the complete absence of any foreign ants. Moreover, the presence of their own territorial marks enables workers to recruit faster than workers on alien territory (Hdlldobler and Wilson, 1977a). 

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