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Dynamics of chemical mimicry in the social parasite wasp Polistes semenowi (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2004

M. C. LORENZI ,
R. CERVO ,
F. ZACCHI ,
S. TURILLAZZI  and
A.-G. BAGNÈRES
M. C. LORENZI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina 17, 10123 Torino, Italy
R. CERVO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, Università di Firenze, Via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
F. ZACCHI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, Università di Firenze, Via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
S. TURILLAZZI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, Università di Firenze, Via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
A.-G. BAGNÈRES
Affiliation:
IRBI – UMR CNRS 6035 – Université de Tours. Faculté des Sciences, Parc Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France
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Abstract

Chemical cues are so important in the recognition mechanism of social insects that most social parasites (which rely on hosts to rear their brood) have been documented as overcoming the mechanism by which colony residents recognize non-nestmates, by mimicking the odour of the usurped colony. We simulated in the laboratory the process by which the obligate social parasite, Polistes semenowi, invades nests of the host species, Polistes dominulus, in the field and analysed the epicuticular lipid layer before and after host nest usurpation. The experiment documents that P. semenowi social parasites have an epicuticular hydrocarbon pattern which is very similar to that of their host but, after entering host colonies, parasites mimic the odour of the colonies they invade, to the point that they perfectly match the hydrocarbon profile peculiar to the colony they entered. However, both before and after host nest invasion, parasites show a tendency to possess diluted recognition cues with respect to their hosts.

Keywords

chemical mimicrycamouflagepaper waspssocial parasitismchemical signaturechemical insignificanceblank state
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 129 , Issue 5 , November 2004 , pp. 643 - 651
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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