TY - JOUR

T1 - Terpenoids tame aggressors

T2 - role of chemicals in stingless bee communal nesting

AU - Leonhardt, Sara

AU - Jung, Linda-Maria

AU - Schmitt, Thomas

AU - Blüthgen, Nico

PY - 2010/9

Y1 - 2010/9

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Stingless bees

KW - Communal nesting

KW - Chemical profile

KW - Terpenes

KW - Aggression

KW - Meliponini

U2 - 10.1007/s00265-010-0956-6

DO - 10.1007/s00265-010-0956-6

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 64

SP - 1415

EP - 1423

JO - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

JF - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

SN - 0340-5443

IS - 9

ER -