Necrophoresis

Necrophoresis
A black garden ant (Lasius niger) engaging in necrophoresis.

Necrophoresis (literally "carrying dead") or corpse-ridding or "undertaking" behavior, is a behaviour seen in ants and other social insects. The behavior helps maintain good sanitation in the insect colony. Ants recognize death by the absence of certain chemical signals present in living individuals or by the presence of compounds produced in decomposition.

In ant colonies, there are some worker ants that specifically maintain the hygiene of the colony by undertaking or necrophory.[1] Oleic acid has been identified as the compound released from dead ants that triggers necrophoric behaviour in Atta mexicana[2] while workers of Linepithema humile react to the absence of characteristic chemicals (dolichodial and iridomyrmecin) present on the cuticle of their living nestmates.[3]

References

  1. ^ Julian GE, Cahan S (1999). "Undertaking specialization in the desert leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex versicolor". Animal Behaviour 58 (2): 437–442. doi:10.1006/anbe.1999.1184. PMID 10458895. 
  2. ^ López-Riquelme GO, Malo EA, Cruz-López L, Fanjul-Moles ML (2006). "Antennal olfactory sensitivity in response to task-related odours of three castes of the ant Atta mexicana (hymenoptera: formicidae)". Physiological Entomology 31 (4): 353–360. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3032.2006.00526.x. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3032.2006.00526.x. 
  3. ^ Choe, Dong-Hwan;Millar JG; Rust MK (2009). "Chemical signals associated with life inhibit necrophoresis in Argentine ants". Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 106 (20): 8251–8255. doi:10.1073/pnas.0901270106. PMC 2688878. PMID 19416815. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2688878. 
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