Eltz Thomas
Department of Neurobiology, Sensory Ecology Group, University of Düsseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
J Chem Ecol. 2006 May;32(5):907-15. doi: 10.1007/s10886-006-9055-6. Epub 2006 May 19.
Many insects are known to leave lipid footprints while walking on smooth surfaces. Presumably, the deposited substances improve tarsal adhesion. In bumblebees, footprint hydrocarbons also function as scent marks that allow detection and avoidance of recently depleted flowers. I used GC-MS to detect hydrocarbons deposited by bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum) on flowers of Lamium maculatum. In addition to the plants' own cuticular lipids, extracts of corollas that had been visited by bumblebees contained odd-numbered alkenes. The amount of pentacosenes (C25H50) on corollas was linearly related to the number of bumblebee visits, with workers depositing approximately 16 ng per visit (extrapolated to a total of 65 ng of bumblebee cuticular hydrocarbons). Pentacosenes were retained on visited flowers without loss for 2 hr, and probably longer. This and results from flight cage experiments suggest that flower epicuticles retain a chemical record of pollinator visitation, including information on visiting bee species. Continuous footprint accumulation necessitates new explanations concerning the reversibility of "repellent scent marks" of bumblebees.
许多昆虫在光滑表面行走时会留下脂质足迹。据推测，这些沉积物质可改善跗节附着力。在大黄蜂中，足迹碳氢化合物还充当气味标记，有助于检测和避开近期已被采尽花蜜的花朵。我使用气相色谱 - 质谱联用仪（GC-MS）来检测大黄蜂（帕斯夸尔熊蜂）在斑点叶唇柱苣苔花朵上沉积的碳氢化合物。除了植物自身的表皮脂质外，大黄蜂访花后的花冠提取物中含有奇数烯烃。花冠上二十五碳烯（C25H50）的含量与大黄蜂访花次数呈线性关系，工蜂每次访花大约沉积16纳克（推断大黄蜂表皮碳氢化合物总量为65纳克）。二十五碳烯在被访花朵上可保留2小时且无损失，可能保留时间更长。这以及飞行笼实验结果表明，花朵表皮保留了传粉者访花的化学记录，包括有关访花蜜蜂种类的信息。足迹的持续积累需要对大黄蜂“驱避气味标记”的可逆性作出新的解释。
