User:Teenuh1/Trail pheromone

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Trail pheromones are semiochemicals secreted from the body of an insect to affect the behavior of another insect receiving it.

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Insects that employ trail pheromones

Ants

Ants typically use trail pheromones to coordinate roles like nest defense and foraging. Ants can produce a trail of defensive secretions that trigger an alarm response within their nestmates. In regards to foraging, an ant can communicate the quality of a food source to its colony; the more rewarding a food source is, the higher the concentration of the trail produced. Additionally, some species, like Lasius niger ants, can "eavesdrop" on the trails produced by another species in order to procure food.

Myrmicine ants produce their trail pheromones through their poison glands. The major component in the trail pheromones secreted by Pristomyrex pungens is 6-n-pentyl-2-pyrone; several monoterpenes were also found in the secretion, but they provided only marginal effects when combined with the former. The major components found in the secretions of Aphaenogaster rudis include anabaseine, anabasine, and 2,3'-bipyridyl, though the third contributes less than the other two. When secreted, this trail pheromone does not recruit ants directly from their nest; instead, worker ants may stumble upon to the trail unintentionally and follow it thereafter to the food source.

Bees

Bees can use trail pheromones to mark food sources and the entrance of their hives. Oftentimes, when finding a source, bees will mark that exact location as well as secreting pheromones along the flight back to their hives. Employment of trail pheromones is extensively studied in honey bees and stingless bees, for both are highly social.

The trail pheromone of the stingless bee Trigona recursa is produced by its labial glands. One of its key compounds is hexyl decanoate, and when secreted, the pheromone will recruit other bees towards the source. The stingless bee Scaptotrigona pectoralis, like ants, can utilize another colony's food trail. Specifically, they can learn foreign pheromone trails at a source, broadening their options for foraging. However, in some cases of aggressive bees, like Trigona corvina, encounters between individuals from different colonies at a food source will result in fights and ultimately death amongst both parties.

Termites

Termites use trail pheromones primarily as a means of foraging. They can lay pheromones along a trail as their abdomens touch the ground, specifically through their abdominal sternal glands. As the other termites follow, they will continue to add to the trail.

The basal termite Mastotermes darwiniensis produces trail pheromones from at least two sternal glands despite every other species producing theirs from only one. This pheromone, soley comprised of a norsesquiterpene alcohol, elicits trail-following from other termites. As aforementioned, these successive termites can add to the trail, depending if it is used for foraging or recruiting workers to complete tasks. In the case of Reticulitermes santonensis, foraging trails have spotted markings throughout the path, whereas recruitment trails are more continuous from the termites dragging their bodies along the path.