Behavioural and chemical analysis with individuals in contact with nest cerumen clearly showed transference of chemical signals after brief contact. Although no statistical differences were found for either behavioural or chemical tests after 10 min of contact,
after 20 min, the rejection rates significantly increased for individuals in contact with alien cerumen. Furthermore, after 20 min of contact with alien cerumen, chemical analysis of the cuticular compounds clearly separated the two groups of nestmates. Newly
emerged individuals were probably collected for the analysis more than 20 min after their emergence. The fact that these individuals did not present recognition signals even after this period might be related to specific characteristics of their cuticle composition