Terpenoids tame aggressors: role of chemicals in stingless bee communal nesting

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Social insects aggressively defend their nest and surrounding against non-nestmates, which they recognize by an unfamiliar profile of aliphatic hydrocarbons on the cuticle. Prominent exceptions are communal nest aggregations of stingless bees. Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are also unique in possessing cuticular terpenes which are derived from tree resins and have not yet been reported for any other insect. We showed experimentally that sesquiterpenes from the body surface of the communal nesting bee Tetragonilla collina reduced aggression in otherwise aggressive bees which did not have sesquiterpenes themselves. In the field, bee species nesting in aggregations with T. collina often lack sesquiterpenes in their own cuticular profiles. These species show little aggression towards T. collina, whereas it can be heavily attacked by non-aggregated species that also possess cuticular sesquiterpenes. We conclude that appeasement by sesquiterpenes represents a novel mechanism to achieve interspecific tolerance in social insects.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftBehavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Jahrgang64
Ausgabenummer9
Seiten (von - bis)1415-1423
Anzahl der Seiten9
ISSN0340-5443
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 09.2010

    Fachgebiete

  • Ökosystemforschung - Stingless bees, Communal nesting , Chemical profile, Terpenes , Aggression , Meliponini

DOI

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