Terpenoids tame aggressors: role of chemicals in stingless bee communal nesting |
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Authors: | Sara D Leonhardt Linda-Maria Jung Thomas Schmitt Nico Blüthgen |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074, Würzburg, Germany 2. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, University of Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
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Abstract: | 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. |
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