Batista, Jaqueline Eterna; da Silva, Rafael Carvalho; do Nascimento, Daniela Lima; Oliveira, Ricardo Caliari; Oi, Cintia Akemi; do Nascimento, Fábio Santos; (2024) Nestmate Recognition in Two Melipona Stingless Bee Species: The Effect of Cuticular Chemical Profiles and Colony Distance. Journal of Insect Behavior 10.1007/s10905-024-09852-z. (In press).

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Abstract

The ability to discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates is critical to the success of social insect colonies. Nestmate recognition prevents individuals from being exploited by parasites and food robbers. This recognition is mediated mainly by chemical cues, such as cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), chemical compounds found over the insect body. Here, we investigated the ability of two stingless bee species to distinguish nestmate from non-nestmates using behavioral experiments and chemical characterization. In the first experiment, we introduced workers from Melipona scutellaris and Melipona quadrifasciata into their own colonies (nestmates) or into unrelated ones (non-nestmates). In the second experiment, we administered synthetic compounds to M. scutellaris workers while once more conducting behavioral assays. We collected M. quadrifasciata workers to characterize their cuticular profiles. Overall, for both species, nestmate were accepted more readily than non-nestmates. The acceptance and rejection rates of individuals in M. scutellaris are significantly influenced by colony distance, but not in M. quadrifasciata. A similar proportion of nestmates and non-nestmates of M. quadrifasciata were accepted, which could be explained by their higher cuticular chemical similarity. Topical application of synthetic compounds made M. scutellaris colonies less permissive to either nestmates and non-nestmates. These findings provide evidence that in these two species of Melipona, workers rely on the CHCs to decide whether to accept or reject individuals.

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