A. Dahbi et al., SOCIAL CLOSURE, AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR, AND CUTICULAR HYDROCARBON PROFILES IN THE POLYDOMOUS ANT CATAGLYPHIS-IBERICA (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE), Journal of chemical ecology, 22(12), 1996, pp. 2173-2186
Nestmate recognition was studied in the polydomous ant Cataglyphis ibe
rica (Formicinae) in the laboratory. The study examined six colonies c
ollected from two different populations 600 km apart in the Iberian pe
ninsula (Barcelona and Murcia). Introduction of an alien worker into a
n allocolonial arena always ended in death to the intruder, demonstrat
ing that in this species societies are extremely closed. Dyadic encoun
ters composed of individuals from different colonies in a neutral aren
a confirmed the existence of high aggression between allocolonial indi
viduals. We also investigated variability in the composition of the ma
jor cuticular hydrocarbons between the colonies used in the behavioria
l tests. There were marked quantitative differences between the profil
es of ants from the two populations, suggesting that the populations a
re completely segregated. Cuticular profiles within a population tende
d to be more similar, but were nevertheless colony specific. The degre
e of colony closure in C. iberica seemed to be independent of geograph
ic distance since aggression between the colonies was always at its ma
ximum, irrespective of their population origin.