Visual and olfactory communications are vital for coordinated group hunting in most animals. To hunt for prey, the group-raiding termite specialist ant Megaponera analis, which lacks good vision, must first confirm the presence or absence of conspecific raiders. Here, we show that M. analis uses olfactory cues for intraspecific communication and showed greater preference for conspecific odors over clean air (blank) or odors from its termite prey. Chemical analysis of ant volatiles identified predominantly short-chained hydrocarbons. Electrophysiological analysis revealed differential sensory detection of the odor compounds, which were confirmed in behavioral olfactometric choice assays with odor bouquets collected from major and minor castes and the 2 most dominant volatiles and n-undecane n-tridecane. A comparative analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbon profile with those of the short-chained odor bouquet of different populations shows a high divergence in the long-chained profile and a much-conserved short-chained odor bouquet. This suggests that there is less selection pressure for divergence and individual recognition in the short- than the long-chained odor profiles. We conclude that olfactory communication serves as an alternative to visual or sound communication, especially during group raids in M. analis when ants are not in direct contact with one another.

中文翻译：

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在白蚁袭击蚂蚁Megaponera analis（Mayr）中以气味为媒介的团体组织和协调。

视觉和嗅觉交流对于大多数动物的集体狩猎至关重要。为了寻找猎物，缺乏良好视力的白蚁专家蚂蚁Megaponera analis必须首先确认是否存在同种入侵者。在这里，我们表明，M。analis使用嗅觉线索进行种内通讯，并且显示出对同种气味的偏好高于清洁空气（空白）或白蚁猎物的气味。蚂蚁挥发物的化学分析确定了主要为短链烃。电生理分析显示，对气味化合物进行了不同的感官检测，这在行为嗅觉选择分析中得到了证实，该检测方法从主要和次要种姓收集的气味花束以及2种最主要的挥发物和正癸烷正十三烷。对表皮碳氢化合物的分布图与不同种群的短链气味组合物的比较分析表明，长链分布特征差异很大，而短链气味组合物的保守性很高。这表明，与长链气味分布相比，短链具有较小的发散和个体识别压力。我们得出的结论是，嗅觉交流可以替代视觉或声音交流，尤其是在蚂蚁分枝杆菌的团队突袭中，当蚂蚁没有彼此直接接触时。