Summary
This paper reports the results of the first detailed study of the morphology of exocrine glands in two species of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae. Workers of Leptanilla escheri and L. japonica possess a large, unpaired sternal gland in the VIIth abdominal sternite, and an hypertrophied poison gland which is surrounded by a massive muscle layer. The sternal gland is absent in the queen of L. japonica, and the poison gland is highly degenerated. The queen is, however, endowed with a series of large, paired, intersegmental tergal and sternal glands, which occur between the IVth through the VIIth segments. The queen also posseses large spiracular plate glands.
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Hölldobler, B., Palmer, J.M., Masuko, K. et al. New exocrine glands in the legionary ants of the genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Leptanillinae). Zoomorphology 108, 255–261 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312158
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312158