Nest Hydrocarbons as Cues for Philopatry in a Paper Wasp

Abstract

Philopatric behavior has been demonstrated in a wide taxonomic spread of animals. In temperate environments, overwintered Polistes wasp foundresses often return to their natal nest prior to initiating colony construction. Previous research has shown that these spring foundresses can identify the natal nest in the absence of landmark and gross morphological cues. Hydrocarbons are essential recognition cues for Polistes nest and nestmate discrimination, but cuticular hydrocarbon profiles can become homogenized when foundresses overwinter in mixed colony groups. We examined the hydrocarbon profiles of Polistes dominulus foundresses and nests before and after an overwintering period, and found that the hydrocarbon profiles of nests remain unique over time and that this uniqueness is influenced by the original foundresses. Our data raise the possibility that in returning to the natal nest, foundresses reacquire their colony-specific signature, which may play a role in the formation of cooperative associations.

Low level of cuticular hydrocarbons in a parasitoid of a solitary digger wasp and its potential for concealment

“…In social species, typical CHC profiles can be recovered from nest material (usually from paper nests) (Espelie & Hermann 1990; Singer et al. 1992; Singer & Espelie 1996; Lorenzi & Caprio 2000; Sumana et al. 2005; Dani 2006).…”

Genetic relatedness in early associations ofPolistes dominulus: from related to unrelated helpers

“…2004). The tendency of females to return to their original colony site (philopatry), when they leave their winter refuges, could explain why higher within‐group relatedness values were more common on early nests (Klahn 1979; Jeanne & Morgan 1992; Queller 1994; Starks 2003; Sumana et al . 2005).…”

The Cuticular Hydrocarbons Profiles in the Colonial Recognition of the Neotropical Eusocial Wasp, Mischocyttarus cassununga (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…Studies show that the mechanism of recognition of conspecifics depends mainly on the amount of relative concentration of cuticular compounds in a colony. The colonyspecific composition, where females of a given colony are able to recognize their conspecifics by odour, was demonstrated in Polistes annularis (Espelie & Hermann, 1990) , in P. metricus (Espelie et al, 1990;Layton et al, 1994) , in P. dominulus (Bonavita-Courgoudan et al, 1991;Dani et al, 2001;Pickett et al, 2000;Lorenzi et al, 2004;Sumana et al, 2005) , in P. fuscatus (Gamboa et al, 1996;Panek et al, 2001;Pfenning et al, 1983) in P. biglumis bimaculatus (Lorenzi et al, 1997) , and P. satan (Tannure-Nascimento et al, 2007). In subfamily Stenogastrinae, individual recognition through a similar or homogeneous colony odour was also demonstrated in Liostenogaster flavolineata (Cervo et al, 1996;Cervo et al, 2002), in L. vechti (Cervo et al, 1996) Parischnogaster jacobsoni (Cervo et al, 1996) and Parischnogaster striatula (Zanetti et al, 2001).…”