Sex-pairing pheromones and reproductive isolation in three sympatric Cornitermes species (Isoptera, Termitidae, Syntermitinae)
2011
Bordereau, Christian | Cancello, Eliana M. | Sillam Dussès, David | Semon, Etienne | Développement et Communication Chimique chez les Insectes (DCCI) ; Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Université de Bourgogne (UB) | Museu de Zoologia (MZ) ; Universidade de São Paulo = University of São Paulo (USP) | Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB / CAS) ; Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague] (CAS) | Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation [Dijon] (CSGA) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. The species-specificity of pairing has been studied in three sympatric Neotropical termites: Cornitermes bequaerti, Cornitermes cumulans and Cornitermes silvestrii (Termitidae, Syntermitinae). Bioassays showed that sex attraction was highly species-specific between C. bequaerti and C cumulans but not between C. cumulans and C. silvestrii. The sex-pairing pheromone of the three species is secreted by the tergal glands of female alates. It consists of a common compound (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol. In C. bequaerti, this polyunsaturated alcohol is the only compound of the sex-pairing pheromone, whereas it is associated with the oxygenated sesquiterpene (E)-nerolidol in C. cumulans, and with (E)-nerolidol and (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol in C silvestrii. (3Z,6Z,8E)-Dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol is responsible for sexual attraction, whereas (E)-nerolidol, which is inactive in eliciting attraction of male alates, is responsible for the species-specificity of the attraction. This is the first time that a multicomponent sex-pairing pheromone has been identified in termites. The role of (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol present on the surface of the tergal glands of the female alates of C. silvestrii could not be definitively determined, but it is suggested that this compound could be involved in the species-specificity of sex attraction with other sympatric species of Cornitermes. Our study shows that the reproductive isolation in termites is due to a succession of factors, as the chronology of dispersal flights, the species-specificity of sex-pairing pheromones and the species-specific recognition.
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