《环境昆虫学报》

作者	单位
高杰，徐艳勤，王文凯，陈立	1. 河北大学生命科学学院，生命科学与绿色发展研究院，河北保定 071002 2. 长江大学农学院，湖北荆州 434025

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中文摘要:

蚂蚁死亡后在密闭、潮湿的巢穴环境内非常容易滋生病原菌，威胁巢穴健康。为了防止尸体的存在危害健康个体，工蚁识别尸体上的“死亡信号”并将其搬离巢穴。本研究采用溶剂提取法提取工蚁尸体化合物，并利用化学方法转化尸体提取物，然后测试红火蚁Solenopsis invicta工蚁对4种主要提取成分——酯、脂肪酸、表皮碳氢化合物以及哌啶生物碱的行为反应。结果表明，红火蚁尸体的正己烷提取物具有很强的搬尸活性，高达76%的滤纸条被搬运到弃尸堆。酯、自由脂肪酸和结合态脂肪酸都能引起红火蚁的搬尸行为，搬尸活性分别为40%、28%和19%。自由脂肪酸转化成甲酯后搬尸活性不变，但结合态脂肪酸转化成甲酯后搬尸活性丧失。此外，红火蚁尸体还释放出多种能够诱导搬尸行为的未知成分，说明“死亡信号”具有复杂性。

英文摘要:

In confined and humid nest, pathogens multiply quickly on the corpse of dead ants, which pose a direct threat to colony health. To prevent spread of pathogens from corpse to healthy nestmates, worker ants recognize the “death signals” released by the corpses and remove them from the nest. In this study, we used a solvent extraction method to extract the compounds from corpses of workers of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. A series of transformation experiments were performed using conventional chemical methods to obtain different portions of the extract that contained esters, fatty acids, cuticular hydrocarbons and piperidine alkaloids. They were further subjected to behavioral test with fire ant workers. The results showed that the n-hexane extract of fire ant corpses displayed strong necrophoric activity, and up to 76% of filter paper pieces treated by the crude extract were moved to refuse piles. Esters, free fatty acids, and bound fatty acids all elicited necrophoric behavior with necrophoric activities of 40%, 28%, and 19%, respectively. Methyl esterified products of free fatty acids retained necrophoric activity, whereas methyl esterification of bound fatty acids resulted in loss of necrophoric activity. In addition, corpses of fire ant workers released other unknown components that might be able to trigger necrophoric behavior, suggesting complexity of “death signals”.

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