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An Oral Male Courtship Pheromone Terminates the Response of Nasonia vitripennis Females to the Male-Produced Sex Attractant

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Abstract

Sex pheromones are crucial for mate finding in many animals. Long-range attraction, mate recognition, and the elicitation of sexual receptiveness during courtship are typically mediated by different compounds. It is widely unknown, however, how the different components of a species’ pheromone system influence each other. Here, we demonstrated in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis that females quickly cease to respond to the male sex attractant after they contact a male’s oral secretion during courtship. We used this behavioral switch to monitor the fractionation of head extracts from male wasps for identification of the bioactive compounds as a blend of ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate, and ethyl α-linolenate. This is the first identification of a cephalic courtship pheromone in parasitic Hymenoptera. Plasticity in pheromone-mediated sexual behavior of female insects has hitherto been attributed to the transfer of bioactive proteinaceous molecules with the male ejaculate. The pheromone interaction reported here sheds new light on the sexual communication of insects by showing that the sex pheromone response of females can be terminated by males independent of sperm transfer.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, grant RU-717/10-2 to J.R.). The authors thank Sergej Sperling and Maximilian Epple for rearing the insects, Sabine Feicht for technical assistance with the bioassays, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Joachim Ruther & Theresa Hammerl

  2. Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Joachim Ruther

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  1. Joachim Ruther
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  2. Theresa Hammerl
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Correspondence to Joachim Ruther.

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Ruther, J., Hammerl, T. An Oral Male Courtship Pheromone Terminates the Response of Nasonia vitripennis Females to the Male-Produced Sex Attractant. J Chem Ecol 40, 56–62 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0372-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0372-2

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