A scent shield to survive: identification of the repellent compounds secreted by the male offspring of the cuckoo bumblebee Bombus vestalis

0455757 - ÚOCHB 2016 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Lhomme, P. - Ayasse, M. - Valterová, Irena - Lecocq, T. - Rasmont, P.
A scent shield to survive: identification of the repellent compounds secreted by the male offspring of the cuckoo bumblebee Bombus vestalis.
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. Roč. 157, č. 3 (2015), s. 263-270. ISSN 0013-8703. E-ISSN 1570-7458
Institutional support: RVO:61388963
Keywords : Hymenoptera * Apidae * Psithyrus * social parasitism * repellent * GC-EAD * chemical camouflage
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 1.442, year: 2015

In bumblebees, previous investigations indicated that male offspring of Bombus vestalis, the social parasite of Bombus terrestris, may use allomones to evade host worker attacks. Here we performed electrophysiological studies and behavioural experiments to identify the potential repellents. Six compounds elicited electroantennographic responses in host worker antennae. The mixture of synthetic volatiles as well as pure tetradecyl acetate, and to a lesser extent pure (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate, showed a repellent effect on starved host workers in a feeding bioassay. We hypothesize that tetradecyl acetate has a key function in the repellent effect of the secretions of B. vestalis male offspring towards B. terrestris host workers.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0256378