Smelling like resin: terpenoids account for species-specific cuticular profiles in Southeast-Asian stingless bees |
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Authors: | S D Leonhardt N Blüthgen T Schmitt |
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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: | Insects may be unique in having a cuticle with a species-specific chemical profile. In social insects, colony survival depends
not only on species-specific but also on colony-specific cuticular compounds with hydrocarbons playing an important role in
the communication systems of ants, termites, wasps and bees. We investigated inter- and intraspecific differences in the composition
of compounds found on the body surface of seven paleotropical stingless bee species (Apidae: Meliponini) at two different
sites in Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). Besides hydrocarbons, the body surface of all seven stingless bee species comprised terpenoid
compounds, a substance class that has not been reported for chemical profiles of any social insect so far. Moreover, the chemical
profile of some species differed fundamentally in the composition of terpenoids with one group (e.g. sesquiterpenes) being
present in one species, but missing in another. Chemical profiles of different colonies from the same species showed the same
hydrocarbon- and terpenoid compounds over different regions, as tested for Tetragonilla collina and Tetragonula melanocephala. However, chemical profiles differed quantitatively between the different colonies especially in T. melanocephala. It is likely that the terpenoids are derived from plant resins because stingless bees are known to collect and use large
amounts of resins for nest construction and defence, suggesting an environmental origin of the terpenoids in the chemical
profile of paleotropical stingless bees. |
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Keywords: | Stingless bees Trigona Cuticular profiles Terpenoids Resins |
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