Is the social parasite Vespa dybowskii using chemical transparency to get her eggs accepted?

Both avian and insect cuckoos must trick their hosts into accepting foreign eggs. In birds this is achieved through egg mimicry. Within the hornets the only known social parasite is the rare Vespa dybowskii. We investigated how the V dybowskii queen induces tens or hundreds of host workers to accept her eggs and offspring. Since hydrocarbons function as recognition cues in social insects, we investigated these compounds from the surface of eggs and workers of V. dybowskii, both host species (V. simillima and V. crabro) and an additional four non-host species. We found that chemical mimicry of the hosts' colony odour and their eggs normally associated with wasps was not being employed by V dybowskii. Chemical insignificance is also unlikely as the amounts of hydrocarbons extracted from parasite, host and non-host eggs were similar. Eggs of V dybowskii may survive in part due to being chemically transparent, as methyl-branched compounds only represent a tiny proportion (< 1%) of the parasites hydrocarbon profile but a large proportion (26-41 %) in both host species. However, the functions of various hydrocarbon groups need to be investigated in the hornets before this new acceptance mechanism of parasite eggs and adults is understood. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.