title: Beyond Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Chemically Mediated Mate Recognition in the Subsocial Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides.
abstract: Burying beetles have fascinated scientists for centuries due to their elaborate form of biparental care that includes the burial and defense of a vertebrate carcass, as well as the subsequent feeding of the larvae. However, besides extensive research on burying beetles, one fundamental question has yet to be answered: what cues do males use to discriminate between the sexes? Here, we show in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides that cuticular lipids trigger male mating behavior. Previous chemical analyses have revealed sex differences in cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) composition; however, in the current study, fractionated-guided bioassay showed that cuticular lipids, other than CHCs, elicit copulation. Chemical analyses of the behaviorally active fraction revealed 17 compounds, mainly aldehydes and fatty acid esters, with small quantitative but no qualitative differences between the sexes. Supplementation of males with hexadecanal, the compound contributing most to the statistical separation of the chemical profiles of males and females, did not trigger copulation attempts by males. Therefore, a possible explanation is that the whole profile of polar lipids mediates sex recognition in N. vespilloides.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Keppner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Madlen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ayasse
authors.affiliation: Institute of for Zoology, University of Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany. johannes.stoekl@ur.de.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stökl
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany. sandra.steiger@uni-ulm.de.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steiger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D008055:Lipids; D012724:Sex Attractants
keywords: Burying beetle; Cuticular hydrocarbons; Cuticular lipids; Mate recognition; Nicrophorus vespilloides; Parental care