We study the azimuthal distribution of globular clusters ( GCs ) in early-type galaxies and compare them to their host galaxies using data from the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey .
We find that in host galaxies with visible elongation ( \epsilon > 0.2 ) and intermediate to high luminosities ( M _ { z } < -19 ) , the GCs are preferentially aligned along the major axis of the stellar light .
The red ( metal-rich ) GC subpopulations show strong alignment with the major axis of the host galaxy , which supports the notion that these GCs are associated with metal-rich field stars .
The metal-rich GCs in lenticular galaxies show signs of being more strongly associated with disks rather than bulges .
Surprisingly , we find that the blue ( metal-poor ) GCs can also show the same correlation .
If the metal-poor GCs are part of the early formation of the halo and built up through mergers , then our results support a picture where halo formation and merging occur anisotropically , and where the present day major axis is an indicator of the preferred merging axis .