Data from: A comparative study of egg recognition signature mixtures in Formica ants

• Main Authors: Helanterä, Heikki, d'Ettorre, Patrizia
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Dryad Digital Repository 2020
• Subjects: social evolution; kin recognition; cuticular hydrocarbons; social insects; kin conflict; social parasitism; microsatellites; Finland; Fennoscandia; Europe; Formica fusca; Formica lemani; Formica picea; Formica cinerea; Formica aquilonia; Formica fennica; Formica pressilabris; Formica; Life sciences; medicine and health care; envir; psy
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.38204

Processing of information from the environment, such as assessing group membership in social contexts, is a major determinant of inclusive fitness. For social insects, recognizing brood origin is crucial for inclusive fitness in many contexts, such as social parasitism and kin conflicts within colonies. Whether or not a recognition signature is informative in kin conflicts, depends on the extent of a genetic contribution into the cues. We investigated colony and matriline specific variation in egg surface hydrocarbons in seven species of Formica ants. We show that chemical variance is distributed similarly to genetic variation, suggesting a significant genetic contribution to eggs odors in the genus. Significant among matriline components, and significant correlations between chemical and genetic similarity among individuals also indicate kin informative egg odors in several species. We suggest that egg odor surface variation could play a large role in within colony conflicts, and that a comparative method can reveal novel insight into communication of identity. 14-0279-R1-cinerea-chemFormica cinerea egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-cinerea-genFormica cinerea queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-fusca-chemFormica fusca egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-fusca-genFormica fusca queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-lemani-chemFormica lemani egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-lemani-genFormica lemani queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-picea-chemFormica picea egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-picea-genFormica picea queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-fennica-chemFormica fennica egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-fennica-genFormica fennica queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-aquilonia-chemFormica aquilonia egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-aquilonia-genFormica aquilonia queen microsatellite genotypes14-0279-R1-pressilabris-chemFormica pressilabris egg surface hydrocarbon GC-MS data14-0279-R1-pressilabris-genFormica pressilabris ...