Figure 1.
(a) Representative gas chromatograms of (i) a worker and (ii) a queen of D. molestus. The chemical profile is characterized by 50 regularly occurring peaks, representing different classes of hydrocarbons ranging from a chain length of 21–31 carbon atoms. For identification of the compounds, see the electronic supplementary material, table S2. (b) Discriminant function analysis reveals that the CHC profiles of workers from three unmanipulated D. molestus colonies are clearly colony-specific (Wilks's Lambda = 0.00001, F18,6 = 100.31, p < 0.00001). Filled diamonds = Q13; filled squares = JC36; filled circles = JC18. (c) Discriminant function analysis based on the CHC profiles of workers from two colonies collected at different times before and after fusion. The CHC profiles of workers from colony JC18 before the fusion (filled circles), workers from colony JC36 before the fusion (filled squares) and workers in the new combined colony (open circles, daughter workers of the JC18 queen in the merged colony; open squares, daughter workers of the JC36 queen in the merged colony) are clearly distinct from each other (Wilks's Lambda = 0.054, F26,74 = 9.3424, p < 0.001).