Role of cuticular lipids in nestmate recognition of the European hornet Vespa crabro L. (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Abstract

In order to elucidate nestmate recognition in the European hornet Vespa crabro L. (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) the behavioral response of workers towards dead nestmates and non-nestmates was tested in a bioassay. The testing arena was integrated in a socially and physically intact nest, in an effort to ensure natural behavior of the extremely sensitive wasps. The hornets responded to dead non-nestmates with aggressive behavior, whereas dead nestmates were tolerated or ignored. Solvent extraction of non-nestmate dummies resulted in significant decrease of agonistic behavior of the responding workers. Their behavior towards extracted non-nestmate dummies was no longer statistically distinguishable from the behavior towards nestmate dummies treated in the same way. Treatment of extracted nestmate dummies with cuticular extracts of non-nestmates induced aggressive behavior in the responding workers, whereas treatment of the extracted non-nestmate dummies with cuticular extracts of nestmates lead to a significant decrease of agonistic behavior, when compared with untreated non-nestmates.A statistical comparison of the two colonies with regard to the chemical composition of the cuticular extracts revealed that relative peak areas of 5 monoenes, 4 methyl branched alkanes, 1 terpenoid ester, and 2 n-alkanes differed significantly. The chemical analysis of the Dufour's gland revealed that all 16 compounds identified in the gland were also present in the cuticular extracts.The results strongly indicate that particular mixtures of cuticular lipids play an important role in nestmate recognition of V. crabro.

Colony-level and season-specific variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of individual workers in the ant Formica truncorum

“…Nestmate recognition is widespread in social insects and has been documented in bees (Breed, 1983;Breed et al, 1988;Breed and Julian, 1992), wasps (Ryan et al, 1985;Gamboa et al, 1986;Venkataraman et al, 1988;Lorenzi et al, 1997;Ruther et al 1998) and ants Stuart, 1987;Morel and Blum, 1988;Peeters, 1988;Crosland, 1990;Dahbi and Lenoir, 1998). A number of recent studies have also made explicit connections between social insect behaviour and hydrocarbon profiles Hefetz et al, 1994;Espelie et al, 1994;Breed et al, 1995).…”

Rank and epicuticular hydrocarbons in different populations of the paper wasp Polistes dominulus (Christ) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…Many studies have provided behavioural evidence of recognition capabilities in social wasps (Butts et al, 1993;Ruther et al, 1998;Singer et al, 1998;Zanetti et al, 2001, Cervo et al, 2002. Nestmate recognition has been widely documented in Polistes paper wasps, and this genus has probably received the most attention among the social species with regard to this aspect of recognition (Gamboa, 1996).…”

Colony and Caste Specific Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiles in the Common Japanese Hornet, Vespa analis (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…analis had many components that are not found in V. crabro 3,16 . The main hydrocarbon components were similar but slightly different for the two species.…”

“…The main hydrocarbon components were similar but slightly different for the two species. The component with the largest proportion was pentacosene (C25:1) in V. crabro 3,16 , and pentacosane (C25) in V. analis (Table 1, 2).…”

“…Cuticular hydrocarbons have been thought to be responsible for nestmate recognition because some social wasps are known to have colony-specific hydrocarbon profiles, for example, Dolichovespula maculate 2 , Vespula squamosa, V. macurifrons 1 , Vespa crabro 1,3,16 , Polistes fuscatus 7 , Polistes exclamans 18 , Polistes biglumis bimaculatus: 11,12 , Polistes dominulus 4 , and Polistes satan 21 . In the European hornet, V. crabro, experiments have shown that hornet workers are able to recognize the manipulation of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles 17 .…”