Cuticular lipids as trail pheromone in a social wasp.

We investigated the origin and composition of the chemical trail of the common yellow jacket Vespula vulgaris L. (Vespidae) and found that an artificial trail made from an extract of cuticular lipids from V. vulgaris foragers was biologically as active as a trail laid naturally by the foragers. Chemical analysis of natural trail extracts and the behaviourally active cuticular extracts by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed that the majority of cuticular hydrocarbons were also present in the trail extract at similar ratios. Thus, bioassay data and chemical analysis provide strong evidence that these cuticular hydrocarbons act as a trail pheromone in V. vulgaris.