Abstract
In animal societies, chemical communication plays an important role in conflict and cooperation. For ants, cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) blends produced by non-nestmates elicit overt aggression. We describe a sensory sensillum on the antennae of the carpenter ant Camponotus japonicus that functions in nestmate discrimination. This sensillum is multiporous and responds only to non-nestmate CHC blends. This suggests a role for a peripheral recognition mechanism in detecting colony-specific chemical signals.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Aggression
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Ants / physiology*
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Base Sequence
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Behavior, Animal*
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Carrier Proteins / chemistry
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Carrier Proteins / isolation & purification
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Carrier Proteins / metabolism
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Chemoreceptor Cells / physiology*
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Cues
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Electrophysiology
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Hydrocarbons*
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Insect Proteins / chemistry
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Insect Proteins / isolation & purification
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Insect Proteins / metabolism
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Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Neurons, Afferent / physiology*
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Sense Organs / physiology
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Social Behavior
Substances
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Carrier Proteins
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Hydrocarbons
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Insect Proteins