title: Speed and accuracy in nest-mate recognition: a hover wasp prioritizes face recognition over colony odour cues to minimize intrusion by outsiders.
abstract: Social insects have evolved sophisticated recognition systems enabling them to accept nest-mates but reject alien conspecifics. In the social wasp, Liostenogaster flavolineata (Stenogastrinae), individuals differ in their cuticular hydrocarbon profiles according to colony membership; each female also possesses a unique (visual) facial pattern. This species represents a unique model to understand how vision and olfaction are integrated and the extent to which wasps prioritize one channel over the other to discriminate aliens and nest-mates. Liostenogaster flavolineata females are able to discriminate between alien and nest-mate females using facial patterns or chemical cues in isolation. However, the two sensory modalities are not equally efficient in the discrimination of 'friend' from 'foe'. Visual cues induce an increased number of erroneous attacks on nest-mates (false alarms), but such attacks are quickly aborted and never result in serious injury. Odour cues, presented in isolation, result in an increased number of misses: erroneous acceptances of outsiders. Interestingly, wasps take the relative efficiencies of the two sensory modalities into account when making rapid decisions about colony membership of an individual: chemical profiles are entirely ignored when the visual and chemical stimuli are presented together. Thus, wasps adopt a strategy to 'err on the safe side' by memorizing individual faces to recognize colony members, and disregarding odour cues to minimize the risk of intrusion from colony outsiders.
authors: Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino 650019, Italy david.baracchi@gmail.com.
authors: D
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-0612
authors: D
authors: Baracchi
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino 650019, Italy.
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Petrocelli
authors: Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Chittka
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino 650019, Italy.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Ricciardi
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino 650019, Italy.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Turillazzi
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D009812:Odorants; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012903:Smell; D012919:Social Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: chemical cues; cognitive abilities; multimodal sensory cues; trade-offs; visual cognition; visual cues
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 2008;59:255-78
references: 18154502
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2002 Nov 29;357(1427):1519-26
references: 12495509
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 2009 Jul;24(7):400-7
references: 19409649
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jan 25;108(4):1735-40
references: 21220340
references: Anim Cogn. 2007 Jan;10(1):17-21
references: 16802145
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Oct 22;275(1649):2353-61
references: 18611852
references: Biol Lett. 2009 Aug 23;5(4):459-61
references: 19411275
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 May 23;103(21):8293-7
references: 16698937
references: Curr Biol. 2012 Feb 7;22(3):R91-3
references: 22321310
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Jun 7;281(1784):20140071
references: 24741013
references: Nature. 2003 Jul 24;424(6947):388
references: 12879057
references: Anim Behav. 1999 Nov;58(5):921-931
references: 10564594
references: J Exp Biol. 2006 Mar;209(Pt 6):987-93
references: 16513924
references: J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2004 Sep;190(9):759-63
references: 15316731
references: Annu Rev Entomol. 2001;46:573-99
references: 11112180
references: Science. 1985 Jun 28;228(4707):1489-95
references: 17831241
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2012 May 22;279(1735):1937-42
references: 22217722
references: Nature. 2012 Jan 12;481(7380):154-5
references: 22237105
references: Annu Rev Entomol. 2005;50:371-93
references: 15355247
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 2007 Oct;22(10):529-37
references: 17904686
references: Curr Biol. 2008 Sep 23;18(18):R851-2
references: 18812075
references: J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2006 Apr;192(4):431-7
references: 16380841
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Jul 22;269(1499):1423-8
references: 12137570
references: PLoS One. 2014;9(4):e93036
references: 24695492
references: Science. 2011 Dec 2;334(6060):1272-5
references: 22144625
references: PLoS One. 2013;8(11):e81825
references: 24236218
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2008 May 22;275(1639):1189-96
references: 18285281
references: J Chem Ecol. 1991 Dec;17(12):2397-420
references: 24258635
references: Science. 2001 Apr 20;292(5516):491-4
references: 11313492
references: Anim Behav. 1999 Jun;57(6):1233-1239
references: 10373256
references: Front Psychol. 2012 Mar 22;3:83
references: 22461777
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jan 20;106(3):947-51
references: 19075246
references: Curr Biol. 2008 Oct 28;18(20):R953-4
references: 18957249
references: Behav Processes. 2007 Jan 10;74(1):27-32
references: 17046173
references: Nature. 2004 Nov 11;432(7014):218-22
references: 15538369
references: J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2014 Jun;200(6):463-74
references: 24710696
references: Anim Cogn. 2012 Sep;15(5):745-62
references: 22639070