Chemotaxonomic Study of Males of Two Wool Carder Bee Species (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megacklinae: Anthdinii: Anthidium)

Abstract

Cuticular hydrocarbons are present on the surface of all insects and play an important role in the life of insects. Although primarily anti-desiccation agents, cuticular hydrocarbons are emerging as important chemicals in insect communication. Using Cuticular hydrocarbons of insect cuticles is important in taxonomy because they have a wide variety of chemical compounds e.g.; hydrocarbons, monoester waxes, triglycerides, and free fatty acids. So cuticular chemical components are a precise tool for chemotaxonomy, and they can be used as an accompaniment to morphology and genetic characters in phylogenetic studies. Solitary bees (leaf-cutting ) of Anthidium Fabricius, 1804 are economically important in natural and agroecosystems and play an important role in pollinating many domesticated and wild plant species. This study aimed to describe the cuticular chemical profile of males of two species of the genus Anthidium to be applied as a chemotaxonomic tool. The investigation used gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Investigated specie revealed 40 compounds in total, with nine compounds in common. The chemical diversity was higher in, A. tessellatum (30 compounds) while, in A. pulchellum (19 compounds). Males of A. tessellatum were distinguished by twenty-one exclusive compounds, and males of A. pulchellum were characterized by ten compounds. Most abundant compounds and that represented by scarce quantity were recorded for each species.