Gutiérrez E., Ruiz D., Solís T., May-Itzá W. de J., Moo-Valle H., Quezada Euán J.J.G. (2016) Does
larval food affect cuticular profiles and recognition in eusocial bees? a test
on Scaptotrigona gynes (Hymenoptera: Meliponini). Behav Ecol. Sociobiol. 70: 781-789
Abstract
The relative
contributions of heritable and environmentally acquired components of colony
odor towards individual recognition are scarcely known in social insects. Larval
food may affect cuticular profiles which in turn may serve as cues in the
process of elimination of excess gynes characteristic of the eusocial stingless
bees. In this study we evaluated the contribution of larval food to cuticular
profiles of stingless bee gynes and
quantitatively tested if recognition (latency) from workers may be related to gyne
chemotype and origin in the species Scaptotrigona pectoralis. Our results
showed that the origin of food did not significantly affect the cuticular
profiles of gynes, as larvae of the same origin reared on food from different
colonies showed similar cuticular profiles at emergence. We suggest that
overlapping over floral resources may account for the similarity in cuticular
cues derived from food across experimental colonies. Additionally, workers
showed similar latency time to first aggression towards gynes irrespectively of
their chemotype and origin. Gyne’s mass had no effect on the aggressive
response from workers either. We observed that gynes threatened aggressive
workers which counteracted further aggression. Our results indicate that in
stingless bees cuticular hydrocarbons at emergence seem to have genetic origin and
that gyne tolerance seems not related to cuticular chemical profiles. We
suggest that cuticular cues may serve as caste labels for the identification of
newly emerged gynes after which worker aggression towards them would elicit
behavioral indicators of their fitness.
