Relative attractiveness of seeds of myrmecochorous Australian and South African plants to ants, and the chemical basis of this attraction

Abstract

The responses of an indigenous acid an exotic (South American) ant was compared to seeds from exotic (Australian) and indigenous Caps myrmecochorous plants. Non-South African ants were more attracted to seeds of myrmecochorous species, than to non-myrmecochorous species from other continents. However, the chemical basis of this attraction was not due to oleic acid derivatives, as previously reported in the literature. This suggests that there is a broad spectrum of compounds that are attractive to ants. Our results indicate convergence (seeds from myrmecochorous plants are attractive to non-indigenous ants), but that there is no highly specific chemical convergence as a basis for this attraction.