Discriminant analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons of social waspPolistes exclamans viereck and surface hydrocarbons of its nest paper and pedicel.

The articular lipids were analyzed from individualPolistes exclamans workers collected from 10 nests. Surface lipids were also recovered from the paper and pedicels of these nests. Twenty-two hydrocarbons were identified in these lipid fractions. The major components of the wasp cuticular lipids weren-heptacosane,n-nonacosane, methylhentriacontane, and methyltritriacontane. Discriminant analysis of the hydrocarbon profiles of the adult wasps showed that the wasps group together according to their respective colonies. Several colonies from the same geographical location clustered more closely together than colonies from diverse locations. The nest papers and pedicels did not group with the wasps from their respective colonies, but the nest papers clustered together separately, as did the nest pedicels.