Table 2.
Composition of Dufour's gland secretion (mean abundance of each compound per total secretion ±s.e.) of inseminated actively nesting queens, virgin queens, sterile workers (average terminal oocyte smaller than 1 mm) and workers with developed ovaries (average terminal oocyte larger than 1 mm). Workers were taken from 17 colonies under three different social conditions as specified in table 1. ‘ND’ represents compounds that were not quantified and ‘t’ represents trace amount (see also Hefetz et al. 1996).
| queens | workers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| peak no. | compound | egg laying n=13 | virgin n=53 | sterile n=433 | fertile n=291 |
| 1 | hexadecanoic acid | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| 2 | heneicosane | 1.77±0.64 | 3.11±0.44 | 1.24±0.14 | 0.93±0.08 |
| 3 | oleic acid | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| 4 | geranylcitronellol | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| 5 | octyl dodecanoate | 0 | 0 | 0.05±0.01 | <0.01 |
| 6 | docosane | 0.5±0.11 | 0.31±0.11 | 1.01±0.13 | 0.57±0.1 |
| 7 | tricosene (five isomers) | 3.91±0.98 | 0.35±0.07 | 1.14±0.06 | 0.98±0.07 |
| 8 | tricosane | 29.95±4.01 | 17.05±1.1 | 8.85±0.34 | 13.13±0.51 |
| 9 | octyl tetradecanoate | 0 | 0 | 0.58±0.06 | 0.01±0.002 |
| 10 | 9-tetracosene | t | t | t | t |
| 11 | tetracosane | 1.1±0.22 | 0.21±0.02 | 0.71±0.06 | 0.83±0.11 |
| 12 | pentacosene (seven isomers) | 2.23±0.24 | 1.49±0.07 | 1.27±0.05 | 1.12±0.03 |
| 13 | pentacosane | 19.9±2.86 | 5.67±0.26 | 9.82±0.36 | 17.65±0.49 |
| 14–16 | octyl hexadecenoate (three isomers) | 0 | 0 | 0.57±0.05 | <0.01 |
| 17 | octyl hexadecanoate | 0 | 0 | 5.77±0.44 | 0.05±0.005 |
| 18 | hexacosene (several isomers) | t | t | t | t |
| 19 | hexacosane | 0.58±0.07 | 0.2±0.02 | 0.54±0.03 | 0.75±0.03 |
| 20 | heptacosadiene (two isomers) | 0.21±0.07 | 0.26±0.01 | 0.28±0.02 | 0.08±0.009 |
| 21 | heptacosene (seven isomers) | 4.59±0.84 | 23.3±0.87 | 5.77±0.14 | 4.39±0.09 |
| 22 | heptacosane | 8.85±1.17 | 5.03±0.55 | 9.3±0.28 | 14.44±0.39 |
| 23–24 | octyl linoleate + octyl oleate | 0 | 0 | 7.6±0.47 | <0.01 |
| 25 | octyl octadecanoate | 0 | 0 | 0.63±0.25 | 0.03±0.007 |
| 26 | octacosadiene (several isomers) | t | t | t | t |
| 27 | octacosene (several isomers) | t | t | 1.55±0.26 | 0.99±0.18 |
| 28 | octacosane | 0.13±0.06 | 0.08±0.01 | 0.23±0.01 | 0.25±0.01 |
| 29 | nonacosadiene (three isomers) | 2.09±0.46 | 2.7±0.15 | 3.59±0.11 | 2.78±0.09 |
| 30 | nonacosene (eight isomers) | 13.8±3.48 | 35.11±1.24 | 25.54±0.5 | 18.97±0.49 |
| 31 | nonacosane | 1.13±0.22 | 1.26±0.19 | 2.28±0.08 | 2.65±0.09 |
| 32 | triacontadienes (two isomers) | 0.15±0.03 | 0.11±0.01 | 0.66±0.06 | 0.28±0.01 |
| 33 | triacontene (seven isomers) | 0.14±0.05 | 0.33±0.02 | 0.51±0.01 | 0.63±0.01 |
| 34 | hentriacontadiene (four isomers) | 2.79±0.42 | 0.3±0.04 | 3.54±0.19 | 7.3±0.39 |
| 35 | hentriacontene (three isomers) | 5.53±1.11 | 2.99±0.32 | 6.63±0.22 | 10.84±0.3 |
| 36 | tritriacontadiene (several isomers) | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| 37 | tritriacontene | ND | ND | ND | ND |