Cuticular hydrocarbons of the paper wasp,Polistes fuscatus: A search for recognition pheromones.

The cuticular chemicals of 124 individual wasps (foundresses and workers) from 23 colonies ofPolistes fuscatus were analyzed. The compounds identified, all of which were hydrocarbons, were similar to those of other vespid wasps in that the bulk of the hydrocarbons were 23-33 carbons in chain length. However, the hydrocarbon profile ofP. fuscatus differed from those of its congeners in its proportions of straight-chain alkanes, methylalkanes, and alkenes. Three of the 20 identified hydrocarbons, 13- and 15-MeC31, 11,15- and 13,17-diMeC31, and 13-, 15-, and 17-MeC33, had properties postulated for recognition pheromones: colony specificity, efficacy in assigning wasps to the appropriate colony, heritability, lack of differences between foundresses and workers, and distinctive stereochemistry.