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).