ABSTRACT
Nestmate recognition in ants is defined by the ability of workers to discriminate colony members from non-colony members among conspecifics. This is a well documented behavioral phenomenon (see Breed and Bennett 1987 for review). It is generally accepted that nestmate recognition is based on learned “chemical cues,” a subset of overall colony odor (Vander Meer 1988). These cues can be derived from individuals, queens and/or workers (“discriminators”) or from the environment (Hölldobler and Michener 1980). The recognition process has two elements: chemical cues on the intruding anťs surface and the resident worker’s “neural imprint” or sensory template. If the intruder’s cues match the template of the resident no aggression occurs; however, agonistic behaviors may ensue if they do not match.
