scholarly journals Cuticular hydrocarbon profile for queen recognition in the termite Reticulitermes speratus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Mitaka ◽  
Tadahide Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Reticulitermes Speratus ◽  
Recognition Mechanism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Queen Succession ◽  
Queen Recognition ◽  
And Function ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division

Abstract Chemical communication underlies the sophisticated colony organization of social insects. In these insects, cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) play central roles in nestmate, task, and caste recognition, which contribute to maintenance of the social and reproductive division of labor. Queen-specific CHCs reflect queen fertility status and function as a queen recognition pheromone, triggering aggregation responses around the queens. However, there are only a few studies about the royal recognition mechanism in termites, and particularly, no study has reported about queen-specific CHCs in the species using asexual queen succession (AQS) system, in which the primary queen is replaced by neotenic queens produced parthenogenetically. In this study, we identified the CHC pheromone for neotenic queen recognition in the AQS termite species Reticulitermes speratus. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses revealed that the relative amount of n-pentacosane was disproportionately greater in the CHC profiles of queens than in the CHC profiles of kings, soldiers, and workers. Furthermore, we investigated the cuticular chemicals of the queen aggregate workers; bioassays demonstrated that n-pentacosane shows a worker arrestant activity in the presence of workers’ cuticular extract. These results suggest that R. speratus workers identify whether each individual is a neotenic queen by recognizing the relatively higher ratio of n-pentacosane in the conspecific CHC background. Moreover, they suggest that termites have evolved queen recognition behavior, independently of social hymenopterans.

scholarly journals Death recognition by undertaker bees

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Wen
Keyword(s):  
Body Temperature ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Recognition Mechanism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Bee Health ◽  
Behavioural Tests

AbstractDead conspecifics removal is important of being social to avoid pathogen transmission, which resulted in the evolution of a specific caste of undertaking workers in all hives bee species. However, it is mysterious that how the undertakers distinguish death and life instantly. Through integrative studies of behavioural tests and chemical analyses, a novel mechanism for dead conspecifics recognition is found in the Asian bee Apis cerana cerana Fabricius. The bees detect quickly the death of conspecifics based on decreased cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) emissions, caused by the cooling of the dead bee. Specifically, with the decline of body temperature in death, the CHC emission was reduced. Undertakers perceived the major CHCs. Addition of synthetic CHCs, followed by heating, inhibited undertaking behaviour. Among these CHCs, heptacosane and nonacosane are the major compounds in a natural bee hive, providing a continuous signal associated with life. Via changing the vapour pressure then the ratio of emitted compounds encoding the physiological status of signal sender, insect chemical communication can be finely tuned by body temperature. This straightforward death recognition mechanism requiring little cost can be universal in animal living in social groups, especially in the social insects. Body temperature affected behaviour can response to increasing frequency of extreme weathers in global climate change, which help explain the recent worldwide bee health problem.

Morphological Differences between Reproductive and Non-reproductive Females in the Social Wasp Mischocyttarus consimilis Zikán (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Sociobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago Santos Montagna ◽  
William Fernando Antonialli-Junior
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Social Wasp ◽  
Colony Cycle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Reproductive Females ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division ◽  
Polistine Wasps

Phenotypic divergence plays an important role in establishment of the reproductive division of labor among castes in social insects; however, little is known about this subject in independent-founding polistine wasps. In this study, we investigated morphological differences among foundresses from associative and solitary foundations, as well as among females produced in different phases of the colony cycle in Mischocyttarus consimilis Zikán. Our results showed that the alpha foundress had significantly greater body size than auxiliary foundresses, although it did not differ in size from solitary foundresses. In addition, the alpha foundress had greater ovarian development than their auxiliary and solitary foundresses. We also demonstrated that gynes were significantly larger than workers. These results therefore suggest that the phenotype of females emerging in colonies M. consimilis can vary with the progress of the colony cycle, and that body size and ovarian condition are closely linked to the function performed by the foundress.

scholarly journals Identification of a queen and king recognition pheromone in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (15) ◽  
pp. 3888-3893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin F. Funaro ◽  
Katalin Böröczky ◽  
Edward L. Vargo ◽  
Coby Schal
Keyword(s):  
Social Insect ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Reticulitermes Flavipes ◽  
Subterranean Termite ◽  
Social Hymenoptera ◽  
Cuticular Extracts ◽  
Queen Recognition ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division ◽  
Long Chain

Chemical communication is fundamental to success in social insect colonies. Species-, colony-, and caste-specific blends of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) and other chemicals have been well documented as pheromones, mediating important behavioral and physiological aspects of social insects. More specifically, royal pheromones used by queens (and kings in termites) enable workers to recognize and care for these vital individuals and maintain the reproductive division of labor. In termites, however, no royal-recognition pheromones have been identified to date. In the current study, solvent extracts of the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes were analyzed to assess differences in cuticular compounds among castes. We identified a royal-specific hydrocarbon—heneicosane—and several previously unreported and highly royal enriched long-chain alkanes. When applied to glass dummies, heneicosane elicited worker behavioral responses identical to those elicited by live termite queens, including increased vibratory shaking and antennation. Further, the behavioral effects of heneicosane were amplified when presented with nestmate termite workers’ cuticular extracts, underscoring the importance of chemical context in termite royal recognition. Thus, heneicosane is a royal-recognition pheromone that is active in both queens and kings of R. flavipes. The use of heneicosane as a queen and king recognition pheromone by termites suggests that CHCs evolved as royal pheromones ∼150 million years ago, ∼50 million years before their first use as queen-recognition pheromones in social Hymenoptera. We therefore infer that termites and social Hymenoptera convergently evolved the use of these ubiquitous compounds in royal recognition.

How to Make a Superorganism

2020 ◽  
pp. 148-170
Author(s):  
Robert E. Page
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Social Bees ◽  
Genome Differentiation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
Response Thresholds ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Colony Survival ◽  
Reproductive Division

Insect superorganisms are characterized by a reproductive division of labor (drones, queens, and workers) and a complex division of labor among the non-reproductive individuals, the workers. In the social bees that have attained the highest degrees of sociality, at or approaching superorganism status, males don’t survive mating and are only present as reproductive sperm sequestered in the queen. Queens and workers are anatomically differentiated but derived from the same genome. Differentiation is a consequence of differential feeding of developing larvae by the workers. In the honey bee, worker nurse bees manipulate the developing larvae, forcing them into their reproductive roles. The adult workers self-organize into an ordered society, performing all of the functions necessary for colony survival and reproduction. There are no task masters or forewomen directing the workforce. Instead, every individual makes local decisions about their behavior based on their response thresholds to stimuli in their environment.

scholarly journals Conserved queen pheromones in bumblebees: a reply to Amsalem et al.

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Holman ◽  
Jelle S. van Zweden ◽  
Ricardo C. Oliveira ◽  
Annette van Oystaeyen ◽  
Tom Wenseleers
Keyword(s):  
Cuticular Hydrocarbons ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Queen Pheromone ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
False Negatives ◽  
Queen Pheromones ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division

In a recent study, Amsalem, Orlova & Grozinger (2015) performed experiments withBombus impatiensbumblebees to test the hypothesis that saturated cuticular hydrocarbons are evolutionarily conserved signals used to regulate reproductive division of labor in many Hymenopteran social insects. They concluded that the cuticular hydrocarbon pentacosane (C25), previously identified as a queen pheromone in a congeneric bumblebee, does not affect worker reproduction inB. impatiens. Here we discuss some shortcomings of Amsalem et al.’s study that make its conclusions unreliable. In particular, several confounding effects may have affected the results of both experimental manipulations in the study. Additionally, the study’s low sample sizes (mean n per treatment = 13.6, range: 4–23) give it low power, not 96–99% power as claimed, such that its conclusions may be false negatives. Inappropriate statistical tests were also used, and our reanalysis found that C25substantially reduced and delayed worker egg laying inB. impatiens. We review the evidence that cuticular hydrocarbons act as queen pheromones, and offer some recommendations for future queen pheromone experiments.

scholarly journals Queen and king recognition in the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes: Evidence for royal recognition pheromones

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Francis Funaro ◽  
Coby Schal ◽  
Edward L Vargo
Keyword(s):  
Reticulitermes Flavipes ◽  
Subterranean Termite ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Insect Societies ◽  
Colony Demography ◽  
Queen Recognition ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Antennal Contact ◽  
Reproductive Division

Royal recognition is a central feature of insect societies, allowing them to maintain the reproductive division of labor and regulate colony demography. Queen recognition has been broadly demonstrated and queen recognition pheromones have been identified in social hymenopterans, but not in termites. Here we describe behaviors that are elicited in workers and soldiers by neotenic queens and kings of the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, and demonstrate the chemical basis for the behavior. Workers and soldiers readily perform a lateral or longitudinal shaking behavior upon antennal contact with queens and kings. When royal cuticular chemicals are transferred to live workers or inert glass dummies, they elicit antennation and shaking in a dose-dependent manner. The striking response to reproductives and their cuticular extracts suggests that royal-specific cuticular compounds act as recognition pheromones and that shaking behavior is a clear and measurable queen and king recognition response in this termite species.

scholarly journals Chemical Variation among Castes, Female Life Stages and Populations of the Facultative Eusocial Sweat Bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Steitz ◽  
Robert J Paxton ◽  
Stefan Schulz ◽  
Manfred Ayasse
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Communication ◽  
North American ◽  
Specific Chemical ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Queen Signal ◽  
Ovarian Activation ◽  
Chemical Profiles ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division ◽  
Eusocial Species

AbstractIn eusocial insects, chemical communication is crucial for mediating many aspects of social activities, especially the regulation of reproduction. Though queen signals are known to decrease ovarian activation of workers in highly eusocial species, little is known about their evolution. In contrast, some primitively eusocial species are thought to control worker reproduction through physical aggression by the queen rather than via pheromones, suggesting the evolutionary establishment of chemical signals with more derived sociality. However, studies supporting this hypothesis are largely missing. Socially polymorphic halictid bees, such as Halictus rubicundus, with social and solitary populations in both Europe and North America, offer excellent opportunities to illuminate the evolution of caste-specific signals. Here we compared the chemical profiles of social and solitary populations from both continents and tested whether (i) population or social level affect chemical dissimilarity and whether (ii) caste-specific patterns reflect a conserved queen signal. Our results demonstrate unique odor profiles of European and North American populations, mainly due to different isomers of n-alkenes and macrocyclic lactones; chemical differences may be indicative of phylogeographic drift in odor profiles. We also found common compounds overproduced in queens compared to workers in both populations, indicating a potential conserved queen signal. However, North American populations have a lower caste-specific chemical dissimilarity than European populations which raises the question if both use different mechanisms of regulating reproductive division of labor. Therefore, our study gives new insights into the evolution of eusocial behavior and the role of chemical communication in the inhibition of reproduction.

scholarly journals Quantum and systems theory in world society: Not brothers and sisters but relatives still?

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Albert ◽  
Felix Maximilian Bathon
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
World View ◽  
Social World ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Entire World ◽  
And Function

This article provides a sympathetic, yet also somewhat critical, engagement with the notion of ‘quantizing’ by exploring substantive overlaps between quantum and systems theory. It is based on the observation that while quantum theory is ‘non-classical’ in its entire world-view, there is a danger that when it comes to the social world it is simply laid on a world-view of that world, which remains at its core ‘classical’. This situation calls for engaging quantum with existing non-classical social theories. Resemblances between quantum and systems theory are obviously given through similarities around the concepts of observation and meaning, whose status and function in both bodies of theory is explored. We then probe the degree to which obvious analogies in fact could be read as overlaps and similarities that could be put to complementary analytical use: in a sense, we argue that systems theory ‘does’ quantum theory, and vice versa. The article concludes with some vistas of this discussion for the field of international relations.

Concession Agreements and Nationalization

1958 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Carlston
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Function ◽  
International Economies

It is the purpose of this article to investigate the status of concession agreements in the light of the rules of international law bearing on the power of a state to nationalize property. It is a continuation of an earlier article which explored the nature and function of the concession agreement in the national and international economies. The first article rested on the assumption that legal rules could not be fully understood or evaluated without a fairly clear understanding of the social facts which they were designed to regulate.

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