干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The taxonomy of Cataglyphis ants has many unsolved problems and chemotaxonomy can provide additional insight for their resolution. We describe here the chemical content of the postpharyngeal and Dufour glands of three Cataglyphis ant species: C viaticus C maur, itanicus from Morocco and for the first time a Sub-Saharan Cataglyphis, C sp. (BF) from Burkina Faso. These three species are very distinct chemically with respect to both the postpharyngeal and Dufour glands. Methyl-alkenes, rare in ants, are characteristic of C sp. (BF) postpharyngeal glands. A comparison with C bicolor from Tunisia indicated that C sp. (BF) can be included into the bicolor group with C viaticus. We suggest that the content of the Dufour gland is a better phylogenetic indicator than the content of the postpharyngeal gland. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.