The sex pheromone of a globally invasive honey bee predator, the Asian eusocial hornet, Vespa velutina

Wen, Ping; Cheng, Yanan; Dong, Shihao; Wang, Zheng-Wei; Tan, Ken; Nieh, James C.

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-13509-7

Cited by 47 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…In GC-EAD tests, all CHCs lacking an oxygen-containing group elicited weak responses (47, 48). Thus, EAD systems with a high sensitivity amplifier (14, 49) and static noise control (filtering the air flow with copper mesh and a stainless steel shield cage) were used in this research. The setup enabled the first EAD recording of honeybee responses to CHCs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Death recognition by undertaker bees

Wen

2020

Preprint

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Dead conspecifics removal is important of being social to avoid pathogen 9 transmission, which resulted in the evolution of a specific caste of undertaking 10 workers in all hives bee species. However, it is mysterious that how the undertakers 11 distinguish death and life instantly. Through integrative studies of behavioural tests 12 and chemical analyses, a novel mechanism for dead conspecifics recognition is found 13 in the Asian bee Apis cerana cerana Fabricius. The bees detect quickly the death of 14 conspecifics based on decreased cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) emissions, caused by 15 the cooling of the dead bee. Specifically, with the decline of body temperature in 16 death, the CHC emission was reduced. Undertakers perceived the major CHCs. 17 Addition of synthetic CHCs, followed by heating, inhibited undertaking behaviour. 18 Among these CHCs, heptacosane and nonacosane are the major compounds in a 19 natural bee hive, providing a continuous signal associated with life. Via changing the 20 vapour pressure then the ratio of emitted compounds encoding the physiological 21 status of signal sender, insect chemical communication can be finely tuned by body 22 temperature. This straightforward death recognition mechanism requiring little cost 23 can be universal in animal living in social groups, especially in the social insects. 24Body temperature affected behaviour can response to increasing frequency of extreme 25 weathers in global climate change, which help explain the recent worldwide bee 26 health problem. 27 28 Keywords: life signal, cuticular hydrocarbon, insect body temperature, vapour 29 pressure, GC-EAD, social behaviour 30Recognition of death is an important behaviour of being social. In social groups, 2 detection of death and rapid removal of corpses is essential in order to defend the 3 colony against pathogen transmission (1-4). Humans use the cessation of heartbeats 4 and breathing or cooling body temperature to diagnose death. All these even require 5 complicated processing of information due to the development of resuscitation skills. 6However, what mechanisms are available to much more primitive organisms such as 7 insects to assess whether conspecifics are alive or dead? It has been a long time, that 8 carbonic acids derived from corpse decompose are responsible for the death 9 recognition of dead bodies in social insects (2, 5). But this leads to theoretical and 10 empirical conflicts. Theoretically, dead individuals, usually old or diseased workers, 11 are at the highest risk of carrying pathogens. Leaving dead bodies not removed till 12 decomposition increased the risk of pathogen transmission within the nest, which is 13 conflicted with the importance of corpse management in social behaviour. In 14 observations, specialized workers in eusocial species perform undertaking behaviour, 15 removing the dead bodies of workers speedily (3, 6-8). Usually, a dead bee can be 16 recognized within 30 min (7), before significant decomposition occurs with the 17 concomitant production of od...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I used a custom-made GC-EAD and EAG system (6,7) to test the antennal electrophysiological responses of undertaking bees. The cuticle with two antennal bases of each undertaking bee was dissected from the head capsule with a scalpel.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Death recognition by undertaker bees

Wen

2020

Preprint

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“…Several groups have been working for several years on the isolation of pheromones from V. velutina (Couto, Monceau, Bonnard, Thiéry, & Sandoz, 2014;Gévar, Bagnères, Christidès, & Darrouzet, 2017;Wen et al, 2017;Ya-Nan, Ping, Shi-Hao, Ken, & Nieh, 2017). J. Nieh's group is developing a trap to attract yellow-legged hornet males very selectively using hornets sex pheromones.…”

Section: Pheromone Trapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Options for the biological and physical control of Vespa velutina nigrithorax (Hym.: Vespidae) in Europe: A review

Turchi

Dérijard

2018

J Applied Entomology

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Recently, the environmental economist J.M. Salles (Salles, ) declared that “the Asian hornet was likely to be the most threatening invader insect in France.” Thirteen years after the accidental introduction in France, the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) has invaded most west European countries. Little has been done to date to limit its progression and its economic, ecological and social impact. Although it is illusory to try to eradicate this species, it is known that a targeted control would limit its threatening trend. Current V. velutina control in France is mainly based on (i) high scale volunteer trapping by citizens and (ii) volunteer spotting of the nest. Evaluation of trapping strategies developed so far to control V. velutina expansion has highlighted their failure and has demonstrated the need to optimize nest detection techniques and to investigate on new control strategies. This review describes most of the means aimed to control predation and expansion of V. velutina, whether they have been scientifically assessed or only tested on field with decent success. Published prospective control methods and biological control techniques are also presented.

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“…Sex pheromones are chemical substances capable to elicit behaviours related to sex recognition, mate finding, and mate selection in insects, including social insects of both sexes (Landolt et al 1998;Ayasse et al 2001;Wen et al 2017). In primitively eusocial Polistes paper wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae), semiochemicals used in communication among conspecifics are typically multicomponent blends derived from numerous exocrine tissues, including the cuticle, which is "essentially a glandular layer" (Wheeler 1892, quoted in Jeanne 1996.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cuticular hydrocarbons as cues of sex and health condition in Polistes dominula wasps

et al. 2019

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In the paper wasp Polistes dominula, cuticular hydrocarbons play a critical role to acquire information regarding conspecific individuals. However, the relationship between cuticular hydrocarbons, health status, and male sexually selected traits is poorly investigated. In this study, we characterized the cuticular hydrocarbon profile of adult male and female wasps, infected or not by the strepsipteran endoparasite Xenos vesparum, to assess whether the chemical signature provides information about sex and health status (parasite infection). Moreover, we tested whether the chemical profile reflects male quality as measured via morphological and behavioural (sexually selected) traits at leks. Our results showed that males and females had similar total amount of CHCs, quantitatively different profiles and, to a lesser extent, sex-specific chemical compounds. Cuticular profiles were influenced by the strepsipteran infection, and the effect was stronger in females (the primary host) than in males, according to the physiological castration of female but not of male hosts. Regarding territorial and non-territorial males, no significant difference emerged in their chemical profiles. Furthermore, sex-dimorphic visual signals (size, shape, and asymmetry of abdominal yellow spots) were related to the behavioural displays of territorial males. We hypothesize that cuticular hydrocarbons are potential multi-role cues to assess sex and health status in male and female wasps, in synergy with visual signals and territorial performance in signaling male quality.

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The sex pheromone of a globally invasive honey bee predator, the Asian eusocial hornet, Vespa velutina

Cited by 47 publications

References 46 publications

Death recognition by undertaker bees

Death recognition by undertaker bees

Options for the biological and physical control of Vespa velutina nigrithorax (Hym.: Vespidae) in Europe: A review

Cuticular hydrocarbons as cues of sex and health condition in Polistes dominula wasps

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