Data on early brood nestmate recognition behaviour and chemical signaling in ants

The dataset
shared are:

- Abundance
of hydrocarbons in surface extracts of single eggs and L1 larvae of 6 different
formicoid ants to asses inter-specific and inter-colonial variations obtained
from GC-MS experiments.

- Cumulative
durations of antennation of brood items

- Number of
brood items retrieved

Both behavioural
data were gather during 15 minutes behavioural trials where 6 nestmate ant
workers were presented 3 eggs or 3 L1 larvae that were either all nestmate,
non-nestmate or hetero-specific in an arena with a refuge.

The studied
Formicidae species are: Aphaenogaster senilis (Myrmicinae), Camponotus aethiops
(Formicinae), Formica fusca (Formicinae), Lasius niger (Formicinae), Messor
barbarus (Myrmicinae) and Tapinoma darioi (Dolichoderinae).