Alarm Pheromone Behavior of Vespula squamosa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

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Abstract
Workers of Vespula squamosa (Drury) exhibited alarm behavior in response to extracts of conspecific workers applied to black spheres or black paper cans. This behavior included recruitment from the nest, upwind oriented (anemotactic) flight to the source (attraction), zigzagging flight and hovering immediately downwind of the source, and stinging attacks focused at and near the source. Bioassays of extracts of body parts revealed that the alarm pheromone activity was confined to extracts of the gaster. Within the gaster, the principal source was the venom gland and venom reservoir.

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