Selective preying of the sphecid wasp Trachypus boharti on the meliponine bee Scaptotrigona postica: potential involvement of caste-specific cuticular hydrocarbons

• Published in: Physiological entomology Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 187 - 193
• Main Authors: KOEDAM, DIRK, MORGAN, E. DAVID, NUNES, TÚLIO M, PATRICIO, EDA FLÁVIA L.R.A, IMPERATRIZ- FONSECA, VERA L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2011
• Subjects: 2-heptanol; 2-heptanone; Cuticular hydrocarbons; heptacosene isomers; Hunting; hydrocarbons; Hymenoptera; Isomers; male recognition; males; Mandible; Meliponini; pentacosane; predation; Prey; Scaptotrigona; Scaptotrigona postica; Secretion; sex-specific; stingless bees; Trachypus boharti; worker bees; Workers
• ISSN: 0307-6962; 1365-3032
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.2010.00769.x

The specialist digger wasp Trachypus boharti Rubio-Espina preys exclusively on males of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona postica Latreille 1807, although the hunting attacks involve both male and worker bees of S. postica and members of its own species. To understand the mechanism of prey selection, the cuticular hydrocarbon patterns of workers and males of S. postica are analyzed in detail, and the mandibular secretion of males is examined. The cuticular profiles of males and workers are distinctively different. The major group of cuticular compounds, heptacosene isomers, is twice as abundant in workers as in males. There is no clear distinction between worker and male mandibular secretions. Such a distinct and straightforward caste-specific difference in cuticular hydrocarbons could function as a recognition cue by which T. boharti distinguishes between workers and males of S. postica.