| Title: | "The sex pheromone of a globally invasive honey bee predator, the Asian eusocial hornet, Vespa velutina" |
| Author(s): | Wen P; Cheng YN; Dong SH; Wang ZW; Tan K; Nieh JC; |
| Address: | "Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan Province, 650223, China. wenping@xtbg.ac.cn. Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan Province, 650223, China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, 650201, Kunming, China. Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan Province, 650223, China. kentan@xtbg.ac.cn. Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology, Behaviour, and Evolution, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA" |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-017-13509-7 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2045-2322 (Electronic) 2045-2322 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The Asian hornet, Vespa velutina, is an invasive, globally-distributed predator of European honey bees and other insects. To better under its reproductive biology and to find a specific, effective, and low-impact control method for this species, we identified and tested the key compounds in V. velutina sex pheromone. Virgin gynes (reproductive females) produced this sex pheromone in the sixth intersegmental sternal glands of their abdomens. The active compounds were 4-oxo-octanoic acid (4-OOA, 10.4 mug bee(-1)) and 4-oxo-decanoic acid (4-ODA, 13.3 mug bee(-1)) at a 0.78 ratio of 4-OOA/4-ODA. We synthesized these compounds and showed that male antennae were highly sensitive to them. Moreover, males were only strongly attracted to a 4-OOA/4-ODA blend at the natural ratio produced by gynes. These results provide the first demonstration of an effective way to lure V. velutina males, and the first chemical identification of a sex pheromone in the eusocial hornets" |
| Keywords: | "Animal Structures/drug effects/metabolism Animals Bees/*physiology Female *Introduced Species Male Mass Spectrometry Predatory Behavior/*drug effects Sex Attractants/chemistry/*pharmacology Sexual Behavior, Animal Wasps/*physiology Weather;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineWen, Ping Cheng, Ya-Nan Dong, Shi-Hao Wang, Zheng-Wei Tan, Ken Nieh, James C eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2017/10/13 Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 11; 7(1):12956. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13509-7" |
