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There are many hypotheses for the mechanism and function of the tentacular organs. These hypotheses address two types of questions: "how" questions (how do the TOs work) and "why" questions (what is the function or purpose of the TOs).

Here are some of the leading hypotheses:

• Direct defense: they deter natural enemies such as parasitic wasps
  
  
• Indirect defense: they attract or retain ants or more ants
  
  
• Indirect defense: they make ants more aggressive or more vigilant
  
  
• How they work:
  1. they produce a volatile (airborne) substance
  2. they produce a non-volatile or low-volatile stimulus
     a. tactile stimulus
     b. low-volatility substrate-bound secretion
  

These hypotheses do not exclude each other. All of them could be true.

Next: testing these hypotheses