ABSTRACT
Hymenopterans are the only animals specialized to produce alkaloids. This particularly applies to ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. Many Myrmicine species produce secretions dominated by nitrogen heterocycles; the poison gland secretions of ants in the genera Monomorium and Solenopsis contain a variety of alkaloids: pyrrolidines, pyrrolines, piperidines, piperideines, pyrrolizidines and indolizidines. Most of these are dialkyl-substituted (Jones and Blum 1982). Large series of alkyl-substituted pyrazines have also been identified in ants, particularly as exocrine products of species in the subfamily Ponerinae. Pyrroles, pyridines and indoles have been identified in a wide range of other ant species.
