Ant repellent allomones produced by social wasps

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Project objective

Several species of wasps (independent founding Polistinae, some Vespina and Stenogastrinae) produce repellent substances which prevent nest invasion by ants which prey upon their immature brood. The chemical composition of these allomones is only known in very few species. I recently analysed the allomones of hvo species of Polistes wasps and in biossay experiments found that certain of them have extremelv repellent properties towards some species of ants. The aim of the project is the chemical analysis of allomones from a lar number of species of social wasps and subsequent tests on several species of ants, expecially pest ants, to establish whether they can be employed to control ants which damage human activity The results obtained from chemical analyses of a large number of species could also furnish interesting results for comparative studies. The study will provide the opportunity to acquire techniques used in pheromone and allomone analysis.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• University of Keele · Keele - StaffordshireCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
• Not availableCity levelItaly

Links

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