1. Chemical usurpation of a nest by paper wasp parasites
- Author
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Bagneres, Anne-Genevieve, Lorenzi, Maria Cristina, Dusticier, Georges, Turillazzi, Stefano, and Clement, Jean-Luc
- Subjects
Parasitic insects -- Physiological aspects ,Paper wasps -- Physiological aspects ,Science and technology ,Physiological aspects - Abstract
The paper wasp Polistes atrimandibularis is an obligatory social parasite of another Polistes species, P. biglumis bimaculatus. To control the host nest, the parasite sequentially changes the composition of its chemical signature, the cuticular hydrocarbons, during the colonial cycle. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the cuticular hydrocarbons at every stage of the cycle showed that the parasite can switch on and off an entire chemical family, namely, the unsaturated hydrocarbons. In this way the parasite can match the host signature at a critical moment of the colonial cycle., Having no worker caste and being incapable of nest building, P. atrirwndibularis is an obligatory social parasite. During the short 4-month summer colonial cycle of the host, a P. atrimandibularis [...]
- Published
- 1996