Insect chemical communication: Pheromones and exocrine glands of ants

Abstract

Chemical communication plays a very important role in the lives of many social insects. Several different types of pheromones (species-specific chemical messengers) of ants have been described, particularly those involved in recruitment, recognition, territorial and alarm behaviours. Properties of pheromones include activity in minute quantities (thus requiring sensitive methods for chemical analysis) and specificity (which can have chemotaxonomic uses). Ants produce pheromones in various exocrine glands, such as the Dufour, poison, pygidial and mandibular glands. A wide range of substances have been identified from these glands.