DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7pvmcvds3
title: Cuticular hydrocarbons of pupae in the ant Formica exsecta

description: Chemical communication is common across all organisms. Insects in
 particular use predominantly chemical stimuli in assessing their
 environment and recognizing their social counterparts. One of the chemical
 stimuli used for recognition in social insects, such as ants, are
 long-chain hydrocarbons. Next to providing waterproofing, these surface
 hydrocarbons serve as a signature mixture, which ants can perceive, and
 use to distinguish between strangers and colony mates, and to determine
 caste, sex, or reproductive status of another individual. They can be both
 environmentally and endogenously acquired. The surface chemistry of adult
 workers has been studied extensively in ants, yet the pupal stage has
 rarely been considered. Here we characterized the surface chemistry of
 Formica exsecta pupae, and examine differences among sexes, castes
 (reproductive vs. worker), and types of sample (developing individual vs.
 cocoon envelope). We found quantitative and qualitative differences among
 both castes and types of sample, but male and female reproductives did not
 differ in their surface chemistry. We also found that the pupal surface
 chemistry was more complex than that of adult workers in this species.
 These results improve our understanding of the information on which ants
 base recognition, and highlights the diversity of surface chemistry in
 social insects across developmental stages.
description: Date of data collection: 1.6-31.7 2012
 Geographic location of data collection: SW Finland, Tvärminne
 zoological station 1. Methods used for
 collection/generation of data: Field collection of ant
 pupae from 35 colonies, 3-5 individuals per colony
 Standard
 GCMS-analysis on adult workers, pupal cases and corresponding developing
 individuals inside the pupae. All castes, workers, new queens, and males
 included 2. Methods for processing
 the data: Surface chemicals were
 extracted by washing each individual (cocoon, and developing individual
 separately) in HPLC grade pentane, and analysed with an Agilent 7890A GC
 coupled with an Agilent 5975c MS (described in Pulliainen et al. see
 above) Both raw, proportional,
 and transformed (Aitchison) data are included
 3.
 Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data:
 Excel or other
 spreadsheet 6. Quality-assurance
 procedures performed on the data: Chemical
 analyses were performed by an experienced technician with a Master in
 Chemistry; the GC-MS was tuned every day and a cleaning procedure applied
 every morning. The samples did not contain any
 contaminations. 7. People involved with
 sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission:
 Unni
 Pulliainen, Nick Bos, Patrizia d’Ettorre, Liselotte
 Sundström
description: DATA & FILE
 OVERVIEW 1. File List:
 F exsecta CHC raw data
 and transformations (excel) F exsecta CHC raw data
 and transformations (txt) 2. Are there multiple
 versions of the dataset? no DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
 FOR: F exsecta chc raw data and transformations (3
 sheets) RAW
 reads 36
 variables the first 4 variables
 describe categories (Colony code, Caste, sample type, and
 replicate) the following describe
 the compounds in the order of retention times (# carbon
 atoms) PERCENTAGE of RAW READ 36 variables, the same is in RAW reads, but with original zero values (see below) shows the percentage each compound comprises the total profile of each individual AITCHISON transformation RAW reads transformed such that for each compound <i>X</i> = [log (x<sub>1</sub>/g<sub>(<i>x</i>)</sub>)...log x<i><sub>D</sub></i>/g<sub>(<i>x</i>)</sub>], where <i>g</i> = the geometric mean of the raw reads for each compound to allow this transformation, zero values in the raw read sheet has been replaced with the value 1 Each sheet comprises two rows the first of which states the type of data (raw reads, percentage of raw reads, or Aitchison transformation), and the second the category headers (first four columns), followed by the chemical formula of the compound. Categories are: Colony ID, Caste (worker, sexual female, male), sample (adult, cocoon, i.e. the envelope of a developing pupa, and developing individual, i.e. the individual inside the cocoon), replicate (3-5 individuals of each caste were analysed; Note: both males and females were not available in all colonies) Rows 3-597 contain the chemical information for each individual, in total 595 data rows.   MISSING DATA None