Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Zoology, University of Mainz, J.-v.-Müller-Weg 6, D-55099 Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstrasse 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany E-mail:
Evolution. 2012 Mar;66(3):896-904. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01489.x. Epub 2011 Nov 18.
The integument of insects is generally covered with cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC). They serve multiple functions, most prominent among them waterproofing and-especially among social insects-as communication signal. CHC profiles are incredibly diverse within and across species. However, the causes for CHC variation between species, and potential selection pressures that may shape CHC profiles, are hardly understood. Here, we investigated potential selection pressures on ant CHC. We tested the hypotheses that living in association with another species (e.g., parabiosis), and the climate of the ant's habitat, affect CHC composition. We conducted a large-scale comparison of 37 Camponotus species from five continents. Our results demonstrate that closely associated ant species possess significantly longer hydrocarbons and higher proportions of methylbranched alkenes and alkadienes than non- or loosely associated species. In contrast, climatic factors had no effects. This study shows that the need to be tolerated by another species greatly affects CHC profiles.
昆虫的表皮通常覆盖有角质层烃（CHC）。它们具有多种功能，其中最主要的是防水功能，而在社会性昆虫中，它们则作为一种通讯信号。CHC 图谱在物种内和跨物种之间存在着令人难以置信的多样性。然而，物种间 CHC 变异的原因以及可能塑造 CHC 图谱的潜在选择压力却鲜为人知。在这里，我们研究了蚂蚁 CHC 可能受到的选择压力。我们检验了以下假设：与另一个物种（例如共生）生活在一起，以及蚂蚁栖息地的气候，会影响 CHC 的组成。我们对来自五大洲的 37 种 Camponotus 物种进行了大规模比较。我们的结果表明，与密切相关的蚂蚁物种相比，非共生或松散共生的物种具有更长的碳氢化合物和更高比例的甲基支链烯和链烯。相比之下，气候因素没有影响。这项研究表明，被另一个物种容忍的需求极大地影响了 CHC 图谱。
