Photomicrograph of sting apparatus components journal

Dufour's gland is an abdominal

gland A gland is a Cell (biology), cell or an Organ (biology), organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also funct ...

of certain

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, part of the anatomy of the ovipositor or sting apparatus in female members of Apocrita. The diversification of Hymenoptera took place in the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

and the gland may have developed at about this time (200 million years ago) as it is present in all three groups of Apocrita, the

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s, bees and

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

Structure

Dufour’s gland was first described by Léon Jean Marie Dufour in 1841. Along with the

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced : spermathecae ), also called ''receptaculum seminis'' (: ''receptacula seminis''), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, Oligochaeta worms and certain other in ...

and the poison gland, it develops as an invagination of valves of the sternum. It empties at the base of the ovipositor in ants but into the dorsal vaginal wall in bees and wasps. The gland is lined by a single layer of epithelial cells which secrete substances into the hollow interior. Muscles round the opening of the duct and may help control the outflow.

Function

Dufour’s gland secretes chemicals, the nature and functions of which differs across various hymenopteran groups. The secretion is often used in

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

to mark members of the

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

, to mark hosts ( parasitic wasps), during slave raids (ants), for territory marking (ants), to signal fertility, to attract a member of the opposite sex, to give an alarm warning (ants) or to mark a trail (ants). This use of scent marking pheromones secreted by Dufour's gland is observed in the carpenter bee '' Xylocopa pubescens'' to mark flowers and nests. Other functions include lubricating the valves of the ovipositor during egg-laying, serving as a component of material used to build the nest, serving as a food for the developing larvae and being mixed with

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

and

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

to provision the brood cell before egg-laying. For instance, a well-developed Dufour's gland is one of the main physical characteristics of a social wasp '' Parischnogaster mellyi'', and the abundant abdominal secretion from the gland has been found to play an important role in egg development and oviposition. The gland is well developed in various solitary mining bees where it is used to waterproof and make the lining of the brood cells fungus resistant. Furthermore, the Dufour's gland of the parasitic '' Vespula austriaca'' wasp releases substances that prevent oogenesis in workers to suppress reproduction in host workers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufour's gland Insect anatomy Arthropod glands Apocrita