Cuticular Hydrocarbons of Orchid Bees Males: Interspecific and Chemotaxonomy Variation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26713612.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0145070 and PMC identifier PMC2279212.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Recent studies have investigated the composition of compounds that cover the cuticle in social insects, but few studies have focused on solitary bees. Cuticular hydrocarbons may provide a tool for chemotaxonomy, and perhaps they can be used as a complement to morphology and genetic characters in phylogenetic studies. Orchid bees (Tribe Euglossini) are a highly diverse group of Neotropical bees with more than 200 species. Here, the cuticular hydrocarbons of 17 species were identified and statistical analysis revealed 108 compounds, which allowed for the taxonomic classification according to the genera. The most significant compounds discriminating the four genera were (Z)-9-pentacosene, (Z,Z)-pentatriacontene-3, (Z)-9-tricosene, and (Z)-9-heptacosene. The analyses demonstrated the potential use of CHCs to identify different species.