Morphology of the stridulatory organs of Iberian myrmicine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

The importance of chemical communication in ants has been widely reported, but acoustic communication also has a significant role in those subfamilies that show this behaviour. In this study, we expand the knowledge about stridulatory organs of the subfamily Myrmicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with the first description of the stridulatory organs of five species (Aphaenogaster striativentris, Goniomma blanci, G. hispanicum, Oxyopomyrmex salulcyi and Pheidole pallidula). Subsequently, we made a morphometric study of 16 species to make comparisons of their stridulatory organs. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs were taken for the morphological study, and the head and dimensions of the pars stridens, together with measurements of the striae, were used for the morphometric analysis. The five myrmicines studied show typical stridulatory organs for Formicidae. We also add two genera (Goniomma and Oxyopomyrmex) to the list of genera that are known to have stridulatory organs. The morphometric study shows a positive correlation between the body size and the size of the pars stridens and between the length and width of the pars stridens. However, a relation between the size of the stridulatory organs and the size of the striae of the pars stridens was not detected. Stridulatory organs have been shown to have significant interspecific differences in size.