Recognition in a social symbiosis: chemical phenotypes and nestmate recognition behaviors of neotropical parabiotic ants.

ABSTRACT: Social organisms rank among the most abundant and ecologically dominant species on Earth, in part due to exclusive recognition systems that allow cooperators to be distinguished from exploiters. Exploiters, such as social parasites, manipulate their hosts' recognition systems, whereas cooperators are expected to minimize interference with their partner's recognition abilities. Despite our wealth of knowledge about recognition in single-species social nests, less is known of the recognition systems in multi-species nests, particularly involving cooperators. One uncommon type of nesting symbiosis, called parabiosis, involves two species of ants sharing a nest and foraging trails in ostensible cooperation. Here, we investigated recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons) and recognition behavio

SUBMITTER: Emery VJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3579830 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature