Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Rua Ruí Barbosa, 710-Centro, Cruz das Almas-BA, Brazil.
Chemical Ecology Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Lennard-Jones Laboratory, Keele University, Keele, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2018 Mar 22;13(3):e0194689. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194689. eCollection 2018.
Swarm-founding 'Warrior wasps' (Synoeca spp.) are found throughout the tropical regions of South America, are much feared due to their aggressive nest defence and painful sting. There are only five species of Synoeca, all construct distinctive nests that consist of a single sessile comb built onto the surface of a tree or rock face, which is covered by a ribbed envelope. Although locally common, research into this group is just starting. We studied eight colonies of Synoeca septentrionalis, a species recently been described from Brazil. A new colony is established by a swarm of 52 to 140 adults that constructs a colony containing around 200 brood cells. The largest colony collected containing 865 adults and over 1400 cells. The number of queen's present among the eight colonies varied between 3 and 58 and no clear association between colony development and queen number was detected. Workers and queens were morphologically indistinguishably, but differences in their cuticular hydrocarbons were detected, particularly in their (Z)-9-alkenes. The simple cuticular profile, multiple queens, large size and small number of species makes the 'Warrior wasps' an excellent model group for further chemical ecology studies of swarm-founding wasps.
群居性筑巢的“战士胡蜂”（Synoeca spp.）分布于整个南美洲的热带地区，由于其具有攻击性的巢穴防御和令人痛苦的蜇刺而令人恐惧。Synoeca 属仅有五个物种，它们都建造独特的巢穴，由一个单一的无柄梳子构成，建在树干或岩石表面上，由一个带肋的信封覆盖。尽管在当地很常见，但对这个群体的研究才刚刚开始。我们研究了八个最近从巴西描述的 Synoeca septentrionalis 物种的殖民地。一个由 52 到 140 个成虫组成的蜂群建立一个新的殖民地，其中包含大约 200 个育雏细胞。收集到的最大殖民地含有 865 个成虫和超过 1400 个细胞。在这 8 个殖民地中，存在的女王数量在 3 到 58 之间不等，没有检测到殖民地发展和女王数量之间的明显关联。工蜂和女王在形态上无法区分，但在它们的表皮碳氢化合物，特别是（Z）-9-烯烃方面存在差异。简单的表皮特征、多个女王、体型较大和物种较少使得“战士胡蜂”成为进一步研究群居性筑巢胡蜂的化学生态学的理想模型群体。
