Spitting out information: Trigona bees deposit saliva to signal resource locations.
Stingless bees of the species Trigona spinipes (Fabricius 1793) use their saliva to lay scent trails communicating the location of profitable food sources. Extracts of the cephalic labial glands of the salivary system (not the mandibular glands, however) contain a large amount (approx. 74%) of octyl octanoate. This ester is also found on the scent-marked substrates at the feeding site. We demonstrate octyl octanoate to be a single compound pheromone which induces full trail following behaviour. The identification of the trail pheromone in this widely distributed bee makes it an ideal organism for studying the mechanism of trail following in a day flying insect.
Schorkopf
Dirk Louis P
DL
Department for Neurobiology and Behavioural Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria. dirk-louis.schorkopf@univie.ac.at
Jarau
Stefan
S
Francke
Wittko
W
Twele
Robert
R
Zucchi
Ronaldo
R
Hrncir
Michael
M
Schmidt
Veronika M
VM
Ayasse
Manfred
M
Barth
Friedrich G
FG
D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002210:Caprylates / Q000378:metabolism; D010675:Pheromones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
D002210:Caprylates; D010675:Pheromones; C084308:octyl octanoate