Revisiting the trail pheromone components of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren

Ants use species‐specific trail pheromones to coordinate their sophisticated foraging behavior. During the past decades, many trail pheromone components with various structures have been identified in ants, including the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, a notorious invasive species worldwide. Four compounds, Z,E‐ (ZEF) and E,E‐α‐farnesene (EEF), Z,E‐ (ZEHF) and E,E‐α‐homofarnesene (EEHF), have been reported as components of S. invicta trail pheromone. However, another study reported an analog of α‐farnesene, Z,Z,Z‐allofarnesene, as a key trail pheromone component. These contrasting results caused some uncertainty about the trail pheromone composition in S. invicta. In this study, we synthesized ZEF and EEF, ZEHF and EEHF, and reanalyzed the chemicals in the Dufour gland extract and in the trail pheromone fraction of S. invicta worker body extract. The reported isomers of farnesene and homofarnesene were detected and showed trail‐following activity, with ZEF as the major compound, while no allofarnesene was found, neither in the Dufour gland extract nor in the whole‐body extract. Our results confirm ZEF and EEF, ZEHF and EEHF as trail pheromone components of S. invicta.

[1]  Jianghua Sun,et al.  A trail pheromone mediates the mutualism between ants and aphids , 2021, Current Biology.

[2]  Deguang Liu,et al.  Electrophysiological and Alarm Responses of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to 2-Ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine , 2019, Insects.

[3]  Lei Wang,et al.  Impact of the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren on biodiversity in South China: A review , 2019, Journal of Integrative Agriculture.

[4]  Wenkai Wang,et al.  Electrophysiological and alarm behavioral responses of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to alkoxypyrazines , 2017 .

[5]  Lei Wang,et al.  Electroantennogram and behavioral responses of the imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, to an alarm pheromone component and its analogues. , 2014, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[6]  S. Vinson.  Impact of the invasion of the imported fire ant , 2013, Insect science.

[7]  Helms,et al.  Mutualisms between ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and honeydew-producing insects: Are they important in ant invasions? , 2013 .

[8]  A. Suarez,et al.  Intercontinental differences in resource use reveal the importance of mutualisms in fire ant invasions , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[9]  Wen-Jer Wu,et al.  Global Invasion History of the Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta , 2011, Science.

[10]  R. V. Vander Meer,et al.  Trail Pheromone Disruption of Red Imported Fire Ant , 2010, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[11]  T. Poland,et al.  Biotic and Abiotic Factors Affect Green Ash Volatile Production and Emerald Ash Borer Adult Feeding Preference , 2009, Environmental entomology.

[12]  E. Morgan.  Trail pheromones of ants. , 2009 .

[13]  E. Morgan,et al.  Chemical and behavioral studies on dufour gland contents ofManica rubida (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) , 1990, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[14]  C. S. Lofgren,et al.  Isolation of the trail recruitment pheromone ofSolenopsis invicta , 1988, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[15]  H. Williams,et al.  Trail pheromone of the red imported fire antSolenopsis invicta (Buren) , 1981, Experientia.

[16]  E. Morgan,et al.  Trail pheromone of the antTetramorium impurum and model compounds: Structure-activity comparisons , 1990, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[17]  E. Morgan,et al.  Identification of trail pheromone of the antTetramorium caespitum L. (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) , 1984, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[18]  I. Valterová,et al.  Volatiles released from oak, a host tree for the bark beetle Scolytus intricatus. , 2000, Biochemical systematics and ecology.

[19]  J. Millar,et al.  A Short Synthesis of (3Z,6E)-α-Farnesene (IV). , 1996 .

[20]  Christine Woodcock,et al.  The Chemical Ecology of Aphids , 1992 .

[21]  C. S. Lofgren,et al.  The orientation inducer pheromone of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta , 1990 .

[22]  S. Chou,et al.  A Facile Synthesis of Homofarnesene Components of Fire-Ant Trail Pheromone , 1990 .

[23]  J. Deneubourg,et al.  Colony size, communication and ant foraging strategy , 1989 .

[24]  J. Traniello.  Foraging Strategies of Ants , 1989 .

[25]  C. S. Lofgren,et al.  Synthesis of homofarnesenes: trail pheromone components of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta , 1987 .

[26]  E. Morgan,et al.  Synthesis of (Z,E)- and (Z,Z)-α-farnesenes and -homofarnesenes , 1985 .

[27]  E. Morgan,et al.  Ant trail pheromones , 1985 .

[28]  E. Morgan,et al.  Dufour gland secretions of Myrmica rugulosa and Myrmica schencki workers , 1983 .

[29]  R. Evershed,et al.  Dufour gland secretions of workers of the ants Myrmica sulcinodis and Myrmica lobicornis, and comparison with six other species of Myrmica , 1983 .

[30]  N. Miyaura,et al.  Stereospecific Synthesis of (2Z,4E,6E)-3,7,11-Trimethyl-2,4,6,10-dodecatetraene [trans(C10)-Allofarnesene] , 1982 .

[31]  J. J. Reilly.  Interspecific association and dispersion patterns of the red imported fire ant, aphids and some predaceous insects in a cotton agroecosystem , 1982 .

[32]  C. S. Lofgren,et al.  Hydrocarbon components of the trail pheromone of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis Invicta , 1981 .

[33]  H. Williams,et al.  Synthesis and purification of the allofarnesenes , 1981 .

[34]  R. Evershed,et al.  Comparative study of the dufour gland secretions of workers of four species of Myrmica ants , 1981 .

[35]  E. Morgan,et al.  The chemical composition of the Dufour gland secretion of the ant Myrmica scrabrinodis , 1979 .

[36]  M. Blum,et al.  Fire ant trail pheromones: Analysis of species specificity after gas chromatographic fractionation , 1976 .

[37]  J. Moser,et al.  Trail Pheromones: Responses of the Texas Leafcutting Ant, Atta texana to Select Halo- and Cyanopyrrole-2-Aldehydes, Ketones, and Esters , 1973 .

[38]  C. Brooke Worth,et al.  The Insect Societies , 1973 .

[39]  J. Moser,et al.  Synthetic analogs of the trail pheromone of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta texana (Buckley) , 1972 .

[40]  O. Sutherland,et al.  α-Farnesene, a Natural Attractant for Codling Moth Larvae , 1972, Nature.

[41]  E. Morgan,et al.  Chemical constituents of Dufour's gland in the ant, Myrmica rubra , 1972 .

[42]  R. Silverstein,et al.  A volatile trail Pheromone of the Leaf-Cutting Ant, Atta Texana , 1972 .

[43]  R. Silverstein,et al.  Identification of the Trail Pheromone of a Leaf-cutting Ant, Atta texana , 1971, Nature.

[44]  E. Anet.  Synthesis of (E,Z)-α-,(Z,Z)-α-, and (Z)-β-farnesene , 1970 .

[45]  G. Bergström,et al.  Odour similarities between the slave-keeping ants Formica sanguinea and Polyergus rufescens and their slaves Formica fusca and Formica rufibarbis , 1968 .

[46]  P. J. Williams,et al.  α-Farnesene, Dufour's gland secretion in the ant Aphaenogaster longiceps (F.Sm. ) , 1967 .

[47]  E. Wilson.  Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith) 3. The experimental induction of social responses , 1962 .

[48]  E. Wilson.  Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith) 1. The Organization of Mass-Foraging , 1962 .

[49]  E. Wilson.  Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith) 2. An information analysis of the odour trail , 1962 .

[50]  J. H. Sudd,et al.  Interaction between Ants on a Scent Trail , 1959, Nature.

[51]  E. Wilson,et al.  Source and Possible Nature of the Odor Trail of Fire Ants , 1959, Science.