Abstract
The results of recent studies by our group have suggested that in social wasps of the genus Polistes the Dufour’s gland is involved in kin recognition. In fact, the same hydrocarbons occurring on the cuticle are found in the gland secretion, and in P. dominulus the composition of the glandular secretion is more similar in foundresses belonging to the same colonies than in heterocolonial foundresses. In this study, P. dominulus colonies were experimentally presented with previously treated dead conspecific females. These lures had been deprived of their epicuticular lipids and coated with epicuticular or Dufour’s gland secretion extracts from females hetero- or homocolonial with respect to the tested colonies. The behaviour of the colonies towards these lures indicates that, like the epicuticular lipids, the Dufour’s gland secretion is involved in nestmate recognition.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 14 August 1995/Accepted after revision: 5 November 1995
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dani, F., Fratini, S. & Turillazzi, S. Behavioural evidence for the involvement of Dufour’s gland secretion in nestmate recognition in the social wasp Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 38, 311–319 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050247
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050247