Workers of a Polistes Paper Wasp Detect the Presence of Their Queen by Chemical Cues

Differences in long-chain hydrocarbon mixtures among reproductive and nonreproductive individuals have been often revealed in social insects. However, very few papers demonstrated that these signatures actually act as contact pheromones used by nonreproductive to recognize the presence of a related queen in the colony. Cuticular and glandular hydrocarbons of Polistes paper wasps have been extensively studied, but, until now, the perception and recognition of such cues was not demonstrated. In this paper, we show, for the first time in Vespidae, that Polistes gallicus workers distinguish nestmates from alien individuals and queens from workers by the hydrocarbon mixtures of the Van der Vecht organ secretion (VVS). We also demonstrated that stroking behavior (a peculiar behavior of Polistes by which queens probably lay VVS on the nest) acts as an inhibitor of ovarian development in workers.