Evidence for a chemical arms race between cuckoo wasps of the genus Hedychrum and their distantly related host apoid wasps

Abstract: Background
Brood parasites can exert strong selection pressure on their hosts. Many brood parasites escape their detection by mimicking sensory cues of their hosts. However, there is little evidence whether or not the hosts are able to escape the parasites’ mimicry by changing these cues. We addressed this question by analyzing cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles of Cerceris and Philanthus wasps and their brood parasites, cuckoo wasps mimicking the CHC profiles of their hosts. Some of these hosts use hydrocarbons to preserve their prey against fungal infestation and thus, they cannot significantly change their CHC composition in response to chemical mimicry by Hedychrum brood parasites.

Results
We found that the CHC overlap between brood parasites and their hosts was lower in case of host wasps not preserving their prey than in case of prey-preserving host wasps, whose CHC evolution is constrained. Furthermore, the CHC profiles in non-preserving host wasps is more strongly diversified in females than in males, thus in the sex that is chemically mimicked by brood parasites.

Conclusion
Our results provide evidence for a chemical arms race between those hosts that are liberated from stabilizing selection on their chemical template and their parasites

Objekt anzeigen

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anmerkungen: BMC Ecology and Evolution. - 22, 1 (2022) , 138, ISSN: 2730-7182

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Freiburg
• (wer): Universität
• (wann): 2022
• Urheber: Castillo, Ruth ; Wurdack, Mareike ; Pauli, Thomas Dieter ; Keller, Alexander ; Feldhaar, Heike ; Polidori, Carlo ; Niehuis, Oliver ; Schmitt, Thomas

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.1186/s12862-022-02093-8
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2320361
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.