Geographical variation in Argentine ant aggression behaviour mediated by environmentally derived nestmate recognition cues

Abstract

Social insects use a complex of recognition cues when discriminating nestmates from non-nestmate conspecifics. In the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, recognition cues can be derived from exogenous sources, and L. humile acquires prey-derived hydrocarbons that are used in nestmate discrimination. We studied Argentine ant population-level distinctions in response to external recognition cues. Ants belonging to a California population were strongly affected by the imposition of prey-derived hydrocarbons, with spatially isolated colony fragments that had been fed different cockroach prey (Blattella germanica or Supella longipalpa) showing high and injurious intracolony aggression when reunited. In contrast, colonies of Argentine ants from the southeastern U.S. showed only moderate and noninjurious aggression when subjected to the same treatment. Field-collected colonies of L. humile had hydrocarbons in the range of those provided by S. longipalpa, and colonies from the southeastern U.S. had significantly higher initial levels of Supella-shared hydrocarbons. When fed cockroaches, Argentine ants from both regions acquired additional amounts of Supella- and Blattella-specific hydrocarbons, with a significant increase in levels of Blattella-specific hydrocarbons. Therefore, diet partitioning produced a greater change in the proportion of prey hydrocarbons in the California than in the southeastern U.S. populations, which may be responsible for the altered behaviour observed in the California population. Identifying factors underlying geographical variation in cue expression and/or perception may bring us closer to elucidating the selective forces driving nestmate recognition systems.