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Leaf-cutting ant Atta laevigata (Formicidae: Attini) marks its territory with colony-specific dufour gland secretion

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Salzemann, A. | Nagnan, Patricia | Tellier, Frederique | Jaffe, K.

Edité par CCSD ; Springer Verlag -

International audience. The workers of the leaf-cutting ant Atta laevigata were found to mark a territory around their nest and along trunk trails. Elsewhere, we reported that the territorial mark had orientation and agonistic functions. The presence of this mark induced an alarm behavior in intruder workers and stimulated the residents'' aggressiveness. Of the parts of the body tested, only the extracts from gaster or Dufour gland were able to induce the same agonistic behavior. The compoundsn-heptadecane, (Z)-9-nonadecene, 8,11-nonadecadiene, and (Z)-9-tricosene, secreted by Dufour gland were identified on foraging trails in the field as components of the territorial odor.

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