Abstract
In the leaf-cutting antAcromyrmex octospinosus, the post-pharyngeal glands of workers are filled with a yellow oil, whereas the same gland in alate ants contains a colourless oil. This difference between castes is due to different diets. The colouration in worker glands disappears when a colony is fed on unpigmented substrate. Radioactive tracer studies showed that certain plant materials, probably lipids, enter the post-pharyngeal glands during leaf-chewing. The rapidity with which the gland become radiolabelled indicates that these materials enter the gland directly. Experiments with vitally coloured food show that only the liposoluble fraction of the diet enters the gland.
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