Cleptoparasites, social parasites and a common host: Chemical insignificance for visiting host nests, chemical mimicry for living in

Uboni, Alessia; Bagnères, Anne‐Geneviève; Christidès, Jean-Philippe; Lorenzi, María Cristina

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2012.06.013

Cited by 38 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The blend of cuticular hydrocarbons of P. biglumis females consisted of more than 70 peaks which were homologous series of linear and methyl-branched alkanes, as previously reported (Lorenzi et al, 1997;Uboni et al, 2012). There was no qualitative difference between populations and years (i.e., foundress chemical signatures were composed of the same compounds, whatever the population they came from).…”

Section: Polistes Biglumis Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profilesupporting

confidence: 66%

“…There are also antagonistic interactions which involve social parasites shifting their chemical signature toward higher proportions of branched and long-chained hydrocarbons after settling in host colonies. Among paper wasps, the signature of the obligate social parasite P. atrimandibularis shift to a larger proportion of both branched and long-chained hydrocarbons after infiltrating host nests (Bagnères et al, 1996;Uboni et al, 2012). These parasites, initially violently attacked by hosts (Cervo et al, 1990), are accepted as nestmates after these changes have occurred (Lorenzi, 2003); in the meantime, foundresses regress their ovary development (Cervo and Lorenzi, 1996b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, GC-MS analyses were done on a pool of eight foundresses and another of eight intraspecific parasites using an Agilent 5890 GC system coupled with a 5989A Mass Spectrometer (HP Chemstation software; temperature program as above). Finally, we validated peak identity with identifications from previous work (Bagnères et al, 1996;Lorenzi et al, 1997;Uboni et al, 2012).…”

Section: Chemical Analyses Of Recognition Cuesmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Obligate, interspecific parasites who parasitize the same host employ a double concealing strategy, composed of chemical insignificance and mimicry. They are poor in cuticular hydrocarbons and mimic their host signature, as they lose all parasitespecific hydrocarbons and become enriched in long-chained hydrocarbons, which are typical of their hosts (Bagnères et al, 1996;Lorenzi and Bagnères, 2002;Uboni et al, 2012). As a result, they are tolerated as nestmates by host workers (Lorenzi, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, chemically mimicking the hosts may be unlikely. However, other chemical changes might favor parasite integration in host colonies: compared to legitimate foundresses, the chemical signature of intraspecific social parasites might be poorer in recognition cues-so that they will go undetectedand/or might have enhanced proportions of branched or longchained hydrocarbons, as occurs in the obligate social parasites which use the same host (Uboni et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Divergence in Cuticular Chemical Signatures between Isolated Populations of an Intraspecific Social Parasite

Lorenzi

Azzani

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parental care is costly enough that species exist which exploit the parental care of other individuals to rear their own brood, as social parasites do among social insects. Intraspecific, facultative social parasites use the nest and worker force of another colony of the same species to rear their own young as a reproductive strategy alternative to independent nest foundation. Intraspecific parasites face barriers similar to those of interspecific social parasites: they must bypass host nestmate recognition abilities and keep host workers under control. In the present study, we investigate the cuticular chemical signature of Polistes biglumis paper wasps when they behave as intraspecific social parasites and invade conspecific colonies. We performed our analysis on three geographically separated populations, which differ in their social structure; in one population foundresses regularly produce workers, whereas in the others they rarely do. We tested whether the chemical signature of females which parasitize conspecific colonies resembles that of females who found their colonies, and if this effect is similar among populations with high and low numbers of workers. Our results show that in the two populations where foundresses produce virtually no workers, the hydrocarbon signatures of intraspecific social parasites were not chemically distinct from those of the foundresses. In contrast, in the population where foundresses usually produce workers, the hydrocarbon signatures of intraspecific social parasites had a significantly larger proportion of long-chained and branched hydrocarbons than those of foundresses. These characteristics may have evolved in that population to facilitate parasite exploitation of the host workforce, as long-chained and branched hydrocarbons are relevant as recognition and fertility cues. The lack of workers in the other populations may have relaxed the selection pressure that host workers impose on the chemical signature of intraspecific social parasites.

show abstract

Section: Polistes Biglumis Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profilesupporting

confidence: 66%