Abstract

ROSAS-MEJIA, Madai; CORREA-SANDOVAL, Alfonso; VENEGAS-BARRERA, Crystian Sadiel  and  HORTA-VEGA, Jorge Víctor. Preferences among five carbohydrates in Pheidole bilimeki (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2015, vol.31, n.2, pp.291-297. ISSN 2448-8445.

Sucrose, fructose, glucose, trehalose and melezitose are sugars commonly found in natural sources of energy of ants. In this study were established preferences through the recruitment behavior to these carbohydrates in Pheidole bilimeki Mayr. The order of effectiveness of the five chemicals was: sucrose > melezitose = trehalose > fructose > glucose. In all sugars the responses were dependent to the concentration between 0.1M and 1M. The time invested in drinking per ant was the same in all carbohydrates, therefore, it is discarded that different volumes of solution ingested could determine different amounts of secreted trail pheromone. We propose that different levels of interaction of sugars with their gustatory receptors could determine the intensity of pheromone releasing reflex.

Keywords : ants; trehalose; pheromone recruitment; melezitose.