1978] 
Holldobler & Engel — Glands in Ants 
289 
tarsatus we found well developed sternal glands between the 7 th and 
6 th , 6 th and 5 th , and 5 th and 4 th sterna, but no reservoirs. Instead, the 
duct openings are associated with filament-like protrusions of the 
intersegmental membrane (Fig. 13, 14). 
Other abdominal glands 
The glandular venom apparatus of ants is composed of the 
Dufour’s gland (alkine or accessory gland) and the poison gland. 
Although the venom apparatus of ants is very well studied (see 
reviews by Maschwitz and Kloft 1971, Blum and Hermann 1978 a, 
b), other glands, such as Koschevnikov’s gland (sting gland), 
Bordas’s gland and sting sheath glands, known from other Hymen- 
optera, have not been firmly established in ants. 
Koschevnikov (1899) found in honeybees and Vespa paired 
clusters of glandular cells located laterally near the intersegmental 
membrane between the quadrate plate and the spiracular plate. 
Each individual cell sends channels into gathering ducts, which 
connect with the intersegmental membrane. Altenkirch (1962) found 
similar glands in most Apidae that she had studied. 
There are indications that this gland might also be present in 
some species of the primitive ant subfamilies Myrmeciinae and 
Ponerinae. Whelden (1957) described a pair of clusters of gland 
cells, located slightly dorsally on each side of the sting of Stigma- 
tomma ( =Amblyopone ) pallipes. Each cell sends a “rather tortuous 
duct . . . down and inward, to open through a membrane which is 
above the sting”. Robertson (1968) found “sting glands” in Rhy- 
tidoponera “toward the region of the triangular plate, where they 
are attached to the intersegmental membrane”. She described 
similar glands in Bothroponera sp. ( —Pachycondyla ), Leptogenys 
sjostedji and Myrmecia gulosa. In the latter species the glands are 
described as “two well formed masses of gland cells, each cell 
attached to the intersegmental membrane in the region of the 
triangular plate by a long, simple, cuticular duct”. 
Table 3 (A) lists the species in which we found paired glandular 
structures, closely resembling the “sting glands” described by 
Robertson. In all cases the glandular cells are located near the 
triangular plate, and from each cell a rather long duct leads 
downwards and opens through a membrane near the base of the 
sting (Fig. 15). Although we could not precisely locate the openings 
of the ducts, we assume they opened in the sting chamber. 
