A new type of exocrine gland and its function in mass recruitment in the ant Cylindromyrmex whymperi (Formicidae, Cerapachyinae)

Workers of the ant Cylindromyrmex whymperi display mass trail recruitment. Bioassays show that the trail pheromone originates from a unique gland betw een abdominal sternites 6 and 7. The gland has a hitherto unknown structura l organization. Upon leaving the secretory cell, the duct cell widens to fo rm a sclerotized pear-shaped reservoir chamber, lined with multiple duct ce lls. Each duct thus forms a miniature reservoir for the secretions of each single secretory cell, a novel structural arrangement in exocrine glands of social Hymenoptera.