Sensilla and secretory glands in the antennae of a primitive ant: Dinoponera lucida (Formicidae: Ponerinae)

Abstract

Morphology of the antennae of the female workers of the ponerine ant Dinoponera lucida was examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. In several antennomers, we found secretory gland cells of class I and III. Class III gland cells release their secretion through single pores in the antennal surface, whereas class I secretory cells are seen as tall epidermal cells close to the cuticle. Both gland types have weak reaction for total proteins and neutral polysaccharides. Six distinct sensilla types were observed: trichodea, chaetica, campaniform, basiconica, placodea, and coeloconica. The possible sensory functions of these sensilla and the gland functions are discussed.

Morphological and morphometric studies of the antennal sensilla from two populations of Atta robusta (Borgmeier 1939) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

“…This antennal sensilla diversity has been commonly reported and it is well characterized in other species of ants (Kleineidam et al, 2000;Ruchty et al, 2009;Nakanishi et al, 2009;Siddiqui et al, 2010). They represent a fraction of the many sensilla that have been previously described in other hymenopterans (i.e., trichoid, basiconic, coeloconic, chaetic, ampullacea, campaniform, and placoid) (Hashimoto, 1990;Renthal et al, 2003;Marques-Silva et al, 2006).…”

A revision of the giant Amazonian ants of the genus Dinoponera (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

“…Collections cited in this study are abbreviated as follows: AMNH American Museum of Natural History CASC California Academy of Sciences Entomological Collection CUIC Cornell University Insect Collection FMNH Field Museum of Natural History Label data were used from all specimens to plot distributions. These data were combined with localities derived from literature (Kempf 1971, Kempf 1975, Araujo et al 1990, Fourcassié and Oliviera 2002, Monnin et al 2003, Mariano et al 2004, Araújo and Rodriques 2006, Marques-Silva et al 2006) to supplement specimen distribution data. GPS coordinates were recorded from labels, or estimated from Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) or the Global Gazetteer Version 2.1 Directory of cities and towns in the world (http://www.fallingrain.com/world/index.html).…”

“…Campo Grande is within the range of Dinoponera mutica and there is a possibility that these specimens represent the currently unknown males of D. mutica. However, the males of D. snellingi (Kempf 1971, 1975, Araujo et al 1990, Fourcassié and Oliviera 2002, Monnin et al 2003, Mariano et al 2004, Araújo and Rodriques 2006, Marques-Silva et al 2006 are closest in character states to the male of D. australis, the worker caste of which differs greatly in many characters from the other known Dinoponera workers including D. mutica (see the Dinoponera australis discussion). Therefore we hypothesize that the male of D. mutica will most likely be similar to D. quadriceps or D. longipes, based on the similar worker morphology, and the unknown worker of D. snellingi will be similar to the worker of D. australis.…”

“…Marques-Silva et al (2006) studied of the sensilla and glands of the antennae. Anatomy of the venom apparatus and mandibular glands of Dinoponera gigantea is presented in Hermann et al (1984).…”

The metasternal and Brindley's Glands of Triatoma brasiliensis Neiva (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

“…In this sense, class III glands seem to be ubiquitous among insects, since they have been reported in Isoptera (Noirot & Quennedey 1974), Coleoptera (Delachambre 1975), Dictyoptera (Mercer & Brunet 1959, Phasmatodea (Happ et al 1966), Mecoptera (Crossley & Waterhouse 1969) and Hymenoptera (Cruz-Landim 1967, Marques-Silva et al 2006, Azevedo et al 2007. The present work is the fi rst structural description of the Brindley's and mestasternal glands of T. brasiliensis, which may be used as a reference for further studies on behavior and reproduction patterns of this vector of Chagas' disease.…”