Brasero Nicolas, Lecocq Thomas, Martinet Baptiste, Valterová Irena, Urbanová Klára, de Jonghe Roland, Rasmont Pierre
Research Institute of Biosciences, Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons, Place du Parc 20, 7000, Mons, Belgium.
Research Unit Animal and Functionalities of Animal Products (URAFPA), University of Lorraine - INRA, 2 Avenue de la Forêt de Haye, BP 172, 54505, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
J Chem Ecol. 2018 Jan;44(1):9-17. doi: 10.1007/s10886-017-0910-4. Epub 2017 Dec 6.
Sex-specific chemical secretions have been widely used as diagnostic characters in chemotaxonomy. The taxonomically confused group of bumblebees has reaped the benefit of this approach through the analyses of cephalic labial gland secretions (CLGS). Most of currently available CLGS descriptions concern species from the West-Palearctic region but few from the New World. Here, the CLGS of four East-Palearctic species Bombus deuteronymus, B. filchnerae, B. humilis, and B. exil (subgenus Thoracobombus) are analysed. Our results show high levels of variability in the major compounds in B. exil. In contrast, we describe a low differentiation in CLGS compounds between B. filchnerae and its phylogenetically closely related taxon B. muscorum. Moreover, the chemical profiles of B. filchnerae and B. muscorum are characterized by low concentrations of the C16 component, which is found in higher concentrations in the other Thoracobombus species. This raises the possibility that courtship behavior as well as environmental constraints could affect the role of the bumblebee males' CLGS.
性别特异性化学分泌物已在化学分类学中广泛用作诊断特征。分类学上混乱的熊蜂群体通过对头唇腺分泌物（CLGS）的分析受益于这种方法。目前大多数可用的CLGS描述涉及来自西古北区的物种，而来自新大陆的很少。在此，分析了四种东古北区物种（重名熊蜂、密林熊蜂、谦逊熊蜂和微小熊蜂（胸熊蜂亚属））的CLGS。我们的结果表明，微小熊蜂主要化合物的变异性很高。相比之下，我们描述了密林熊蜂与其系统发育上密切相关的分类群苔地熊蜂之间CLGS化合物的低分化。此外，密林熊蜂和苔地熊蜂的化学图谱特征是C16成分浓度低，而在其他胸熊蜂物种中该成分浓度较高。这增加了求偶行为以及环境限制可能影响熊蜂雄性CLGS作用的可能性。
