Sociochemicals of Ants

The ants are classified as a single family, Formicidae, and the most useful divisions for comparative purposes are subfamilies (Fig. 15.1). Members of widely separated subfamilies frequently occupy similar niches in different parts of the world, and we have therefore tended to emphasize functional aspects rather than taxonomic divisions. The use of chemical data in the systematics of ants (and termites) is fraught with difficulties (Howse and Bradshaw, 1980), not least because of the complexity of glandular secretions of ants, and an exploration of the role of these secretions in behavior and ecology must now be a primary aim. 

Many of the chemicals and secretions we will discuss originate in exocrine glands, that is, glands which discharge outside the body of the ant. A full 

Chemical Ecology of Insects. Edited by William J. Bell and Ring T. Card  

On the ventral surface of the abdomen, several different types of sternal gland have been discovered. Some of these are intersegmental, such as the two in Leptogenys (Fig. 15.3) others, including Pavan s gland, the source of the trail pheromone in many Dolichoderine species, are associated with a conspicuous 

Many of these intersegmental glands are associated with complex cuticular structures, which are presumably used in disseminating their secretion. Some of these structures are vividly illustrated in HOlldobler et al. (1976), HOlldobler and Wilson (1978), Holldobler and Engel (1978) and lessen et al. (1979). 

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