Olivia Ponchau1, Michael Terzo1, Murat Aytekin2, Irena Valterova3, Stéphanie Iserbyt1, Denis Michez1, and Pierre Rasmont1. (1) Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons-Hainaut, Avenue Maistriau 19, Mons, Belgium, (2) Fen Fakültesi Biyoloji Bölümü, Hacettepe Üniversitesi, 06532 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey, (3) Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Flemingovo 2,, 166 10, Praha, Czech Republic
The southern populations of arcto-alpine species of bumblebees, isolated at the tops of mountains, suffer from a very weak connectivity. It is likely a major constraint in spite of a high floral diversity. It could result in the very intense phenomena of phylogenetic differenciation (speciation and subspeciation). On the contrary, these phenomena of insulation seem very reduced in the Arctic in spite of the low biotic diversity.
The main tool used by the bumblebees for recognizing themselves within the species is the marking with pheromones secreted by the cephalic labial glands of the males.
We hypothesize that the phylogenetic differentiation could be perceived in the complex composition of this secretions.
We determined ( by GCMS analysis and multivariate statistics) that there are differences within secretions which make possible the distinction between five populations of Bombus pratorum coming from different areas of Europe. This intraspecific pheromonal geographic variability is identified here for the first time for a bumblebee species.
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