| Title: | Beyond Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Chemically Mediated Mate Recognition in the Subsocial Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides |
| Author(s): | Keppner EM; Prang M; Engel KC; Ayasse M; Stokl J; Steiger S; |
| Address: | "Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany. Institute of for Zoology, University of Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany. johannes.stoekl@ur.de. Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany. sandra.steiger@uni-ulm.de" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10886-016-0806-8 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-1561 (Electronic) 0098-0331 (Linking) |
| 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" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Coleoptera/*metabolism/*physiology Female Hydrocarbons/analysis/*metabolism *Lipid Metabolism Lipids/analysis Male Sex Attractants/analysis/*metabolism Sexual Behavior, Animal/*physiology Burying beetle Cuticular hydrocarbons Cuticular lipids Mate;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineKeppner, Eva M Prang, Madlen Engel, Katharina C Ayasse, Manfred Stokl, Johannes Steiger, Sandra eng 2016/12/29 J Chem Ecol. 2017 Jan; 43(1):84-93. doi: 10.1007/s10886-016-0806-8. Epub 2016 Dec 27" |
