Nestmate recognition and identification of cuticular hydrocarbons composition in the swarm founding paper wasp Ropalidia opifex

Eusocial polistine wasps comprise species in which new colonies are founded by single wasps or groups of foundresses (independent founding species) or by swarms of queens and workers (swarm founding species). The first ones have relatively small societies generally comprising only one egg-laying queen, while the second ones have larger colonies where several egg-laying queens are usually present. These differences in social organisation are expected to influence the acceptance threshold of conspecifics in the colony and the intra-colony communication modalities. In this paper, we showed by field experiments that Ropalidia opifex (a swarm founding species) presents a good discrimination between alien and nestmate conspecifics. Moreover by GUMS, we identified 19 cuticular hydrocarbons in this species, and we demonstrated that cuticular signature in this species depends mainly on colony membership, not showing any correlation with fertility. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.