| Title: | Courtship with two spoons-Anatomy and presumed function of the bizarre antennae of Cardiocondyla zoserka ant males |
| Author(s): | Heinze J; Marschall J; Lautenschlager B; Seifert B; Gratiashvili N; Strohm E; |
| Address: | LS Zoology/Evolutionary Biology Universitat Regensburg Regensburg Germany. Senckenberg Museum fur Naturkunde Gorlitz Germany. Ilia State University Tbilisi Georgia |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2045-7758 (Print) 2045-7758 (Electronic) 2045-7758 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Mating in ants often occurs on the wing during nuptial flights or on the ground when scattered female sexuals attract males by pheromones. In both scenarios, there is little opportunity for males to engage in prolonged aggressive competition or elaborate courtship displays. Male morphology is therefore adapted to locating female sexuals and mating, and it lacks specific weapons or other traits associated with courtship. In contrast, sexuals of the ant genus Cardiocondyla typically mate in their natal nests. As a consequence, in many species winged males have been replaced by wingless fighter or territorial males, which kill or expel rival males with their strong mandibles and show complex mating behavior. However, no wingless males are known from Cardiocondyla zoserka from West Africa, and instead, winged males have evolved a bizarre secondary sexual trait: uniquely shaped antennae with spoon-like tips that show heavily sculptured ventral surfaces with numerous invaginations. We here report on the courtship behavior of C. zoserka males and describe antennal glands with class 3 gland cells, which presumably secrete a close range sex pheromone. Antennal glands have not yet been found in males of other ant species, including a close relative of C. zoserka, suggesting that in ants with intranidal mating sexual selection can rapidly lead to highly divergent adaptations and the evolution of novel structures" |
| Keywords: | Formicidae Hymenoptera antennal glands mating behavior; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEHeinze, Jurgen Marschall, Jella Lautenschlager, Birgit Seifert, Bernhard Gratiashvili, Nana Strohm, Erhard eng England 2021/07/01 Ecol Evol. 2021 May 3; 11(12):7827-7833. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7615. eCollection 2021 Jun" |
