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Variations in Worker Cuticular Hydrocarbons and Soldier Isoprenoid Defensive Secretions Within and Among Introduced and Native Populations of the Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes

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Abstract

In social insects, cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) play a central role in nestmate recognition. CHCs have proved to be useful for identifying species and differentiating populations. In combination with CHCs, isoprenoid soldier defensive secretions (SDSs) have been previously used in some termite species for chemotaxonomic analyses. This study compared the levels of chemical variation within and among introduced (French) and native (U.S.) populations of the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. Worker CHCs and soldier SDSs from termites collected from colonies in nine populations in Florida, Louisiana, and France were analyzed. Discriminant analyses revealed that both localities and populations can be distinguished by using the variation in CHC profiles. Principal component analyses of CHC profiles as well as the calculation of two distance parameters (Nei and Euclidean) revealed remarkable chemical homogeneity within and among French populations. These analyses also showed that the CHC profiles of French populations were closer to termite populations from Louisiana than to those from Florida. Of the six distinct SDS chemotypes, one was common to populations in France and Louisiana. The possibility that populations in France originated from Louisiana, and the potential causes and consequences of chemical homogeneity within introduced populations are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Simon Dupont for help in collecting samples of R. flavipes in France, Ed Vargo, and Claudia Husseneder for help in collecting samples in Louisiana (U.S.), Michael Scharf and Nan-Yao Su’s team for collecting samples in Florida (U.S.), and Tony Tebby for editing the manuscript. We thank Sylvain Guyot for his help in Rgui analyses. This work is part of the Ph.D. thesis of E. Perdereau.

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  1. Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, I.R.B.I. CNRS UMR 6035 Université François Rabelais, Parc de Grandmont, 37200, Tours, France

    Elfie Perdereau, Franck Dedeine, Jean-Philippe Christidès & Anne-Geneviève Bagnères

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  1. Elfie Perdereau
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  2. Franck Dedeine
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Perdereau, E., Dedeine, F., Christidès, JP. et al. Variations in Worker Cuticular Hydrocarbons and Soldier Isoprenoid Defensive Secretions Within and Among Introduced and Native Populations of the Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes . J Chem Ecol 36, 1189–1198 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-010-9860-9

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