STRUCTURE AND VARIABILITY OF INDIVIDUAL ODOR TRAIL IN SOLENOPSIS GEMINATA FABR . (HYMENOPTERA FORMICIDAE)

1. A method to study the variability of the odor trail of an individual ant is described. 2. Four types of marks are left by workers of Solenopsis geminata laying a trail on a soot-coated glass plate: footprints, hair-, sting- and combined marks. The latter consist of both hair- and sting marks (Fig. 2). 3. The continuity of the sting trail increases with increasing starvation time of the colony, increasing quality of the food source and decreasing distance between bait and nest. 4. If the minimum food volume offered is sufficient to fill the crop of an individual forager, variations in food source size have no effect on the continuity of the sting trail. 5. The intensity of the sting marks increases with increasing continuity. 6. The results are discussed and compared to a similar system in the waggle dance of the honeybee. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.