Special proteins detecting different odors
Complex olfactory system:
Odorant receptors: identify different aromatic compounds and pheromones, and most dominant in ants
Gustatory receptors: distinguish between different tastes and react to some pheromones
Ionotropic glutamate receptors: narrowly tune to various poisonous and toxic compounds
Two species will not have the same number of receptors, because of the difference of two species in terms of lifestyle
Differences also are distinct in sex
Olfactory senses are present for chemical communication
Different ants mean different lifestyles
Distinct sense of smell determines themselves from other ants
Ants use their antennae to detect odors. The antennae contain hairs that have nerve cells, at least a few thousand of these aforementioned cells. Special chemicals called pheromones differ in smell depending on the colony, therefore used as a way of communication, these chemicals are picked up with the antennae.
Ants can recall the smells
Nutrition of ants usually come from greasy, starchy, and sweet foods
Black ants are usually the ones in to human foods while red ants are in to natural foods such as leaves, other insects, or even birds and dead insects
Honeydew, the sweet waste product of insects such as aphids, is another thing most ants are attracted to for eating
Sweet scent is the strongest of the scents, and this makes them the easiest to be accessed
Also, differing in the species, some will need more proteins, because of the factors including the difference of their physiology from one species to another, their diet in general, habitat, and as well as their environment
Preferences will vary according to species, anatomy, sex, lifestyle, general diet, and habitat
Sources: Salisbury, David. (September 10, 2012.) Ants have an exceptionally high-def sense of smell. Research news@Vanderbilt.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2014. http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2012/09/ants-have-an-exceptionally-high-def-sense-of-smell/. Zhou, Xioafan. (August 30, 2012.) Phylogenetic and Transcriptomic Analysis of Chemosensory Receptors in a Pair of Divergent Ant Species Reveals Sex-Specific Signatures of Odor Coding. Plosgenetics.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2014. http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002930. Hansen, Lauren D. (September 6, 2012.) The Three Most Common Ant Species. Pestworld.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2014. http://www.pestworld.org/news-and-views/guest-columnists/posts/the-three-most-common-ant-species/. AntAsk. (October 8, 2013.) AntBlog.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2014. http://www.antweb.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=smell. Marks, Gabrielle. (n.d.) Can Ants Smell? EarthSky, (September 23, 2009) How sensitive is an ant’s sense of smell? Earthsky.org. Retrieved January 26, 2014. http://earthsky.org/earth/how-sensitive-is-an-ants-sense-of-smell. Reddy. (2006). How do ants smell? Askville.amazon.com. Retrieved January 26, 2014. http://askville.amazon.com/ants-smell/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=90453. (no author, no date.) ANTS. Trafficpestsolutions.com. Retrieved January 26, 2014. http://trafficpestsolutions.com/ants.html. (no author.) April 26, 2011. Ants are very fond of sweets. Library.thinkquest.org.
Retrieved on January 26, 2014. http://library.thinkquest.org/10aug-oracle-62/673602905/page_679753451.html.
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