Tetramorium tsushimae Ants Use Methyl Branched Hydrocarbons of Aphids for Partner Recognition

In mutualisms, partner discrimination is often the most important challenge for interacting organisms. The interaction between ants and aphids is a model system for studying mutualisms; ants are provided with honeydew by aphids and, in turn, the ants offer beneficial services to the aphids. To establish and maintain this system, ants must discriminate mutualistic aphid species correctly. Although recent studies have shown that ants recognize aphids as mutualistic partners based on their cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), it was unclear which CHCs are involved in recognition. Here, we tested whether the n-alkane or methylalkane fraction, or both, of aphid CHCs were utilized as partner recognition cues by measuring ant aggressiveness toward these fractions. When workers of Tetramorium tsushimae ants were presented with dummies coated with n-alkanes of their mutualistic aphid Aphis craccivora, ants displayed higher levels of aggression than to dummies treated with total CHCs or methyl alkanes of A. craccivora; responses to dummies treated with n-alkanes of A. craccivora were similar to those to control dummies or dummies treated with the CHCs of the non-mutualistic aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. By contrast, ants exhibited lower aggression to dummies treated with either total CHCs or the methylalkane fraction of the mutualistic aphid than to control dummies or dummies treated with CHCs of the non-mutualistic aphid. These results suggest that T. tsushimae ants use methylalkanes of the mutualistic aphid's CHCs to recognize partners, and that these ants do not recognize aphids as partners on the basis of n-alkanes.