Keppner, Eva M. and Prang, Madlen and Engel, Katharina C. and Ayasse, Manfred and Stoekl, Johannes and Steiger, Sandra (2017) Beyond Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Chemically Mediated Mate Recognition in the Subsocial Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ECOLOGY, 43 (1). pp. 84-93. ISSN 0098-0331, 1573-1561
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Burying beetles have fascinated scientists for centuries due to their elaborate form of biparental care that includes the burial and defense of a vertebrate carcass, as well as the subsequent feeding of the larvae. However, besides extensive research on burying beetles, one fundamental question has yet to be answered: what cues do males use to discriminate between the sexes? Here, we show in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides that cuticular lipids trigger male mating behavior. Previous chemical analyses have revealed sex differences in cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) composition; however, in the current study, fractionated-guided bioassay showed that cuticular lipids, other than CHCs, elicit copulation. Chemical analyses of the behaviorally active fraction revealed 17 compounds, mainly aldehydes and fatty acid esters, with small quantitative but no qualitative differences between the sexes. Supplementation of males with hexadecanal, the compound contributing most to the statistical separation of the chemical profiles of males and females, did not trigger copulation attempts by males. Therefore, a possible explanation is that the whole profile of polar lipids mediates sex recognition in N. vespilloides.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | CONTACT SEX-PHEROMONE; BREEDING STATUS; PARENTAL CARE; INSECT HYDROCARBONS; PARASITIC WASP; COMPONENTS; EVOLUTION; SELECTION; BEHAVIOR; FEMALES; Nicrophorus vespilloides; Burying beetle; Cuticular hydrocarbons; Cuticular lipids; Parental care; Mate recognition |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Dec 2018 12:57 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Feb 2019 13:19 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/84 |
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