Cuticular hydrocarbons of the paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus: a search for recognition pheromones

The cuticular chemicals of 124 individual wasps (foundresses and workers) from 23 colonies of Polistes fuscatus were analyzed. The compounds identified, all of which were hydrocarbons, were similar to those of other vespid wasps in that the bulk of the hydrocarbons were 23-33 carbons in chain length...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of chemical ecology Vol. 20; no. 7; pp. 1677 - 1687
Main Authors:	Espelie, K.E. (University of Georgia, Athens, GA.), Gamboa, G.J, Grudzien, T.A, Bura, E.A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York, NY Springer 01-07-1994
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Autoecology Biological and medical sciences CHIMIE COLONIALISME COLONIALISMO COMPOSICION QUIMICA COMPOSITION CHIMIQUE FEROMONAS Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology HIDROCARBUROS HYDROCARBURE Hymenoptera Invertebrates NIDIFICACION NIDIFICATION PHEROMONE POLISTES Polistes fuscatus Protozoa. Invertebrata QUIMICA Vespidae Hydrocarbon Insecta Kin recognition Polistes fuscatus Cuticle Pheromone Social insect Arthropoda Vespidae Chemical composition Hymenoptera Invertebrata Aculeata
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Summary:	The cuticular chemicals of 124 individual wasps (foundresses and workers) from 23 colonies of Polistes fuscatus were analyzed. The compounds identified, all of which were hydrocarbons, were similar to those of other vespid wasps in that the bulk of the hydrocarbons were 23-33 carbons in chain length. However, the hydrocarbon profile of P. fuscatus differed from those of its congeners in its proportions of straight-chain alkanes, methyl-alkanes, and alkenes. Three of the 20 identified hydrocarbons, 13- and 15-MeC31, 11,15- and 13,17-diMeC31, and 13-, 15-, and 17-MeC33, had properties postulated for recognition pheromones: colony specificity, efficacy in assigning wasps to the appropriate colony, heritability, lack of differences between foundresses and workers, and distinctive stereochemistry
Bibliography:	9561834 L50 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0098-0331 1573-1561
DOI:	10.1007/bf02059889