Other properties cont

Cuticular hydrocarbons are part of the lipid layer of the insect cuticle that protects from desiccation (Lockey, 1988) and are thus present in basically every social insect (see Chapter 6). Insects have the sensory apparatus to detect these profiles. So it is not surprising that they utilize variations in hydrocarbon profiles between individuals within and between species to detect various properties in other individuals, such as species identity, gender, colony membership (Howard and Blomquist, 1982, 2005 and various chapters in Part II of this book). In this chapter I will review the evidence indicating that hydrocarbon profiles are also used in colonies of ants, bees, and wasps for the regulation of reproduction. I will especially focus on patterns of variation in hydrocarbon profiles on the cuticle and the eggs in relation to fertility differences, which has not been done in such detail in previous reviews (Heinze, 2004 Monnin, 2006 Hefetz, 2007 Le Conte and Hefetz, 2008 Peeters and Liebig, 2009). 

TABLE 2.4 Properties of Fatty Acid Alkyl Esters Other than Methyl—cont d... 

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