Chemical profiles, division of labor and social status in Pachycondyla queens (Hymenoptera : Formicidae)

Queens of the neotropical ponerine ant Pachycondyla cf. 'inversa' may co-op erate during colony founding. One of several co-founding queens specializes in foraging, whereas the others remain in the nest and guard the brood. Di vision of labor is achieved by aggressive interactions, which result in the formation of dominance hierarchies, Gas chromatography and mass spectromet ry of cuticular hydrocarbons obtained from live queens by SPME revealed con sistent differences between the patterns of cuticular hydrocarbons of queen s with high versus low rank: only high-ranking queens showed considerable a mounts of cuticular pentadecane (n-C-15) and hcptadecene (n-C-17:1). These two substances presumably originate from the queens' Dufour glands.