text: These stalks will need to have receptors to measure the n-alkene levels present in another ant’s cuticular hydrocarbons, which research indicates is the marker for harvester ants of a nestmate’s current task, perhaps because the hydrocarbons are altered in the dry sun, causing a different ratio of n-alkanes to n-alkenes and the presence of branched n-alkanes in the hydrocarbon profile (Wagner, et al, 2001, as cited in Gordon & Greene, 2003).