Abstract
Ants use a variety of semiochemicals for essential activities and have been a source for many novel natural products. While ant taxa produce a wide variety of chemicals, the chemistry and ecology of male ants have remained understudied. Tyramides are a class of compounds that have been found only in males of the Myrmicinae ant subfamily. Tyramides found in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta are transferred to gynes during mating where they are converted to tyramine, leading to rapid reproductive development. To further understand the evolution of tyramide production in male ants, we determined the tyramide composition in males of 15 fungus-growing ant species (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini: Attina) and a Megalomyrmex species (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini). Thirteen tyramides were identified, four for the first time in natural sources, and their percent composition was mapped to the fungus-growing ant phylogeny.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff and researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) for logistical support, and the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente y el Mar for permission to sample ants in Panama and export them to Ohio. For assistance in the field, we thank participants of the 2015 (Andrea-Pil Sussie Holm, Anne-Mette Kroner, Angelo Concilo, Thomas Kaae), 2017 (Mazie L. Davis, Natalie M. Hamilton, Conor T. Hogan, Jianmei Mah, Ian M. Pelfrey), and 2019 (Matthew R. Boot, Julian M. Roberts, Matthew R. Fisher, Kendall A. King) Tropical Behavioral Ecology and Evolution course, currently organized and financially supported by The Ohio State University in coordination with STRI. RMMA was supported by The Ohio State University. Thank you to our two reviewers and journal editor for their invaluable feedback on this manuscript.
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Conceptualization: RMMA and THJ. Methodology: RMMA and THJ. Formal analysis and investigation: ARL and MFH. Original draft preparation: ARL; Review and editing: all authors. Funding acquisition: RMMA and THJ. Resources: RMMA and THJ; Supervision: RMMA and THJ.
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Luo, A.R., Hassler, M.F., Jones, T.H. et al. The Evolution of Tyramides in Male Fungus-Growing Ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini: Attina). J Chem Ecol 48, 782–790 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-022-01382-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-022-01382-2