Scarano, F., Giannetti, D., Trenti, F., Giacomazzi, F., Vigna, J., Guella, G., Grasso, D. A., & Haase, A. (2024).

Trail pheromone identification in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1–10.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58383-2

In this work, we identified the trail pheromone of the ant Crematogaster scutellaris. We combined 
gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of extracts from the hind tibia, the location of 
the respective glands, with automated trail following assays. The study found tridecan-2-ol to be 
the strongest discriminator between hind tibia and other body part extracts. Tridecan-2-ol elicited 
trail-following behaviour at concentrations of 1 ng/µL. A separation of the enantiomers showed 
responses to (R)-tridecan-2-ol already at 0.001 ng/µL and only at a 1000-fold higher concentration 
for (S)-tridecan-2-ol, suggesting that only the R enantiomer is used by C. scutellaris in its natural 
environment. We also found strong behavioural responses to 2-dodecanol, a substance that was 
not detectable in the hind tibia extract of C. scutellaris, but which has been reported to be the trail 
pheromone of the related species C. castanea. We discuss the contribution of these results to the 
’dissection and reconstruction’ of strategies and mechanisms underlying the social organization of 
ants.