Ethyl 4-methyl heptanoate: a male-produced pheromone of Nicrophorus vespilloides

Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae)

Investigating fundamental processes in biology requires the ability to ground broad questions in species-specific natural history. This is particularly true in the study of behavior because an organism's experience of the environment will influence the expression of behavior and the opportunity for selection. Here, we provide a review of the natural history and behavior of burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus to provide the groundwork for comparative work that showcases their remarkable behavioral and ecological diversity. Burying beetles have long fascinated scientists because of their well-developed parenting behavior, exhibiting extended post-hatching care of offspring that varies extensively within and across taxa. Despite the burgeoning success of burying beetles as a model system for the study of behavioral evolution, there has not been a review of their behavior, ecology, and evolution in over 25 years. To address this gap, we leverage a developing community of researchers who have contributed to a detailed knowledge of burying beetles to highlight the utility of Nicrophorus for investigating the causes and consequences of social and behavioral evolution.

The Impact of Environmental Factors on the Efficacy of Chemical Communication in the Burying Beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

There is growing evidence that a wide range of insect sex pheromones are condition dependent and play a fundamental role in mate choice. However, the effectiveness of pheromonal communication might not only depend on internal factors of the sender, but also on attributes of the microhabitat, in which the signaler chooses to emit its chemical signal. For example, the degree of anthropogenic land use might affect how successful the signal is transmitted, as land use has been shown to affect animal communities and the complexity of biotic interactions. To test the hypothesis that parameters of the microenvironment determine males' ability to attract females via their sex pheromone, we used the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst (Coleoptera: Silphidae) as our model system. We exposed 144 males across differently managed forest stands and analyzed the impact of 29 environmental parameters. Our data revealed that human land use intensity had no effect on a male's attractiveness. However, the harvested tree biomass positively affected the proportion of competitors attracted. Furthermore, we found that soil characteristics were important factors determining the amount and body size of females a male was able to attract. Consequently, we present evidence that the environmental context of a signaling male influences the effectiveness of chemical signaling either because it affects the transmission process or the prevailing abundance of potential signal receivers. Thus, our results demonstrate that males need to make careful decisions about the location where they emit their pheromone, as this choice of microhabitat has an impact on their fitness.

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Responses of the Fringed Larder Beetle Dermestes frischii to the Smell of a Cadaver at Different Decomposition Stages

A cadaver is colonized by a wide diversity of necrophagous insects. It is well documented that Dipterans are attracted by the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by a corpse during the first minutes following death. Coleopterans are known to be attracted by highly decomposed cadavers, but have received less attention regarding the olfaction-based mechanisms underlying these interactions. In the present study, we impregnated gauzes with VOCs collected from each decomposition stage of dead rats: fresh, bloated, active, and advanced decay. We collected the VOCs released by the gauze and confirmed what was previously know from the literature: the decomposition stages are associated with contrasting chemical profiles. We exposed Dermestes frischii Kugelann (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) male and female antennae to the same gauzes and found that stronger electrical responses were recorded when using the smell of the advanced decay stage. Finally, we performed two choices behavioral assays. Females showed no preference for the four decomposition stages, while males were attracted by the smell associated with active and advanced decay stages. These results suggest that specific VOCs released by a decaying body guide necrophagous coleopterans to their feeding site. Whether D. frischii males release pheromones to attract females remains to be tested.

A Parental Volatile Pheromone Triggers Offspring Begging in a Burying Beetle

Parental care is a notable aspect of reproductive effort in many animals. The interaction between offspring begging and the parental feeding response is an important communication mechanism that regulates offspring food supply, and reducing the cost of superfluous begging is beneficial to both parents and offspring. Here we concluded that parents of the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus inform their offspring of their preparation for provisioning by emitting “provisioning pheromone.” Female parents emitted an antimicrobial aromatic compound, 2-phenoxyethanol, in their regurgitation before provisioning, and this compound elicits begging behavior from their offspring. Furthermore, begging incurs growth and survival costs, and parents spent more than 85% of their time in close proximity to their offspring without provisioning. Therefore, it is suggested that limiting offspring begging during provisioning is beneficial to both parents and offspring. We report here a novel aspect of parent-offspring communication in family life.

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Burying beetle parents emit a volatile pheromone that elicits larval begging

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Parents secrete the pheromone into their regurgitation, which is consumed by offspring

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This pheromone benefits the parents by reducing the cost of larval begging

Pheromones Regulating Reproduction in Subsocial Beetles: Insights with References to Eusocial Insects

Beetles have evolved diverse strategies to cope with environmental challenges. Although parents of the vast majority of beetle species do not take care of their offspring, there are some species, in which parents provide elaborate post-hatching care and remain temporarily associated with their offspring to defend them from competitors or to provision them with food. Usually, socially induced reproductive "control" is a core feature of eusocial societies, but here we highlight that already in small family groups, socially induced reproductive regulation can play a fundamental role. By discussing the family life of burying beetles, we illustrate the mechanisms behind such a reproductive "control" and show that - similar to eusocial insects - pheromones can be an important regulating factor. However, apart from burying beetles, our knowledge of pheromones or other signals mediating reproductive regulation is surprisingly rudimentary for social beetles. More data are required to broaden our currently patchy picture.

Volatiles Emitted by Calling Males of Burying Beetles and Ptomascopus morio (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae) Are Biogenetically Related

In burying beetles, Nicrophorus spp. (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae) mate finding is mediated by male produced volatile compounds. To date, pheromone components of only two species have been identified. In an attempt to better understand the evolution of male pheromone signaling in burying beetles, we investigated the male released volatiles of ten Nicrophorus species and one closely related nicrophorine species, Ptomascopus mori. Volatiles emitted by calling males were collected in the laboratory by means of solid phase micro extraction and analyzed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Identified volatiles included short chain esters of 4-methylcarboxylic acids, terpenoids, and some other aliphatic compounds. The long-range volatile signals of the burying beetle species included in this study are blends of two to seven components. We found that methyl or ethyl esters of 4-methylheptanoic acid and 4-methyloctanoic acid are produced by eight of the ten investigated Nicrophorus species. These esters may play a key role in chemical communication. Their widespread occurrence suggests that these compounds did not evolve recently, but appeared relatively early in the phylogeny of the genus. Although Ptomascopus is considered the sister genus of Nicrophorus, P. morio males do not produce any of the Nicrophorus compounds, but release 3-methylalkan-2-ones, which are absent in Nicrophorus. A better understanding of the evolution of burying beetle pheromones, however, will only be possible once more species have been studied.

Variation in sex pheromone emission does not reflect immunocompetence but affects attractiveness of male burying beetles-a combination of laboratory and field experiments

Life history theory predicts a trade-off between male sexual trait expression and immunocompetence. Using burying beetles, Nicrophorus vespilloides, as a model, we investigated the relationship between male immune function, sex pheromone emission, and attractiveness under field conditions. In the first experiment, we tested whether there is a positive correlation between immune capacity, sex pheromone characteristics (quantity, relative composition, and time invested in pheromone emission), and male attractiveness. As a measurement of immune capacity, we used an individual's encapsulation ability against a novel antigen. In the second experiment, we specifically examined whether a trade-off between chemical trait expression and immune function existed. To this end, we challenged the immune system and measured the subsequent investment in sex pheromone emission and the attractiveness of the male under field conditions. We found that a male's immunocompetence was neither related to the emission of the male's sex pheromone nor to its attractiveness in the field. Furthermore, none of the immune-challenge treatments affected the subsequent investment in pheromone emission or number of females attracted. However, we showed that the same males that emitted a high quantity of their sex pheromone in the laboratory were able to attract more females in the field. Our data suggest that the chemical signal is not a reliable predictor of a male's immunocompetence but rather is a general important fitness-related trait, with a higher emission of the sex pheromone measured in the laboratory directly affecting the attractiveness of a male under field conditions.

Beyond Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Chemically Mediated Mate Recognition in the Subsocial Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

Burying beetles have fascinated scientists for centuries due to their elaborate form of biparental care that includes the burial and defense of a vertebrate carcass, as well as the subsequent feeding of the larvae. However, besides extensive research on burying beetles, one fundamental question has yet to be answered: what cues do males use to discriminate between the sexes? Here, we show in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides that cuticular lipids trigger male mating behavior. Previous chemical analyses have revealed sex differences in cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) composition; however, in the current study, fractionated-guided bioassay showed that cuticular lipids, other than CHCs, elicit copulation. Chemical analyses of the behaviorally active fraction revealed 17 compounds, mainly aldehydes and fatty acid esters, with small quantitative but no qualitative differences between the sexes. Supplementation of males with hexadecanal, the compound contributing most to the statistical separation of the chemical profiles of males and females, did not trigger copulation attempts by males. Therefore, a possible explanation is that the whole profile of polar lipids mediates sex recognition in N. vespilloides.

Identification and Synthesis of Branched Wax-type Esters, Novel Surface Lipids from the Spider Argyrodes elevatus (Araneae: Theridiidae)

The analysis of cuticular extracts from the kleptoparasitic spider Argyrodes elevatus revealed the presence of unusual esters, new for arthropods. These novel compounds proved to be methyl-branched long-chain fatty acid esters with methyl branches located either close or remote from the internally located ester group. The GC/MS analysis of the prosoma lipid blend from the male cuticle contained one major component, undecyl 2-methyltridecanoate (1). In contrast, four major wax-type esters, 2-methylundecyl 2,8-dimethylundecanoate (2), 2,8-dimethylundecyl 2,8-dimethylundecanoate (3), heptadecyl 4-methylheptanoate (4), and 14-methylheptadecyl 4-methylheptanoate (5), were identified in the lipid blend of female prosomata. Structure assignments were based on mass spectra, gas chromatographic retention indices, and microderivatization. Unambiguous proof of postulated structures was ensured by an independent synthesis of all five esters. Preferentially, odd-numbered carbon chains pointed to a distinct biosynthetic pathway, different from that of common fatty acids, because one or two C₃ starter units are incorporated during the biosynthesis of all acid and alcohol building blocks present in the five esters. The striking sexual dimorphism together with the unique biosynthesis points to a function of the esters in chemical communication of the spiders, although no behavioral data are currently available to test this assumption.

Beyond species recognition: somatic state affects long-distance sex pheromone communication

Long-range sex pheromones have been subjected to substantial research with a particular focus on their biosynthesis, peripheral perception, central processing and the resulting orientation behaviour of perceivers. Fundamental to the research on sex attractants was the assumption that they primarily coordinate species recognition. However, especially when they are produced by the less limiting sex (usually males), the evolution of heightened condition dependence might be expected and long-range sex pheromones might, therefore, also inform about a signaller's quality. Here we provide, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive study of the role of a male's long-range pheromone in mate choice that combines chemical analyses, video observations and field experiments with a multifactorial manipulation of males' condition. We show that the emission of the long-distance sex pheromone of the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides is highly condition-dependent and reliably reflects nutritional state, age, body size and parasite load--key components of an individual's somatic state. Both, the quantity and ratio of the pheromone components were affected but the time invested in pheromone emission was largely unaffected by a male's condition. Moreover, the variation in pheromone emission caused by the variation in condition had a strong effect on the attractiveness of males in the field, with males in better nutritional condition, of older age, larger body size and bearing less parasites being more attractive. That a single pheromone is influenced by so many aspects of the somatic state and causes such variation in a male's attractiveness under field conditions was hitherto unknown and highlights the need to integrate indicator models of sexual selection into pheromone research.

Acceptance threshold theory can explain occurrence of homosexual behaviour

Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) has been documented in a wide range of animals, but its evolutionary causes are not well understood. Here, we investigated SSB in the light of Reeve's acceptance threshold theory. When recognition is not error-proof, the acceptance threshold used by males to recognize potential mating partners should be flexibly adjusted to maximize the fitness pay-off between the costs of erroneously accepting males and the benefits of accepting females. By manipulating male burying beetles' search time for females and their reproductive potential, we influenced their perceived costs of making an acceptance or rejection error. As predicted, when the costs of rejecting females increased, males exhibited more permissive discrimination decisions and showed high levels of SSB; when the costs of accepting males increased, males were more restrictive and showed low levels of SSB. Our results support the idea that in animal species, in which the recognition cues of females and males overlap to a certain degree, SSB is a consequence of an adaptive discrimination strategy to avoid the costs of making rejection errors.

Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to selected cadaveric volatile organic compounds

Soon after death, carcasses release volatile chemicals that attract carrion insects including Silphidae. Nevertheless, it is not known which chemical cues are involved in the attractiveness of the carcass. So far, little information is available on the chemical ecology of carrion beetles, particularly concerning the subfamily of Silphinae. The biological role of selected cadaveric volatile organic compounds including dimethyldisulfide (DMDS), butan-1-ol, n-butanoic acid, indole, phenol, p-cresol, putrescine, and cadaverine on the silphine species, Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabricius, was investigated using both electrophysiological and behavioral techniques. Among the tested cadaveric compounds, butan-1-ol and DMDS elicited the strongest electroantennography (EAG) from both T. sinuatus male and female antennae. In a two-arm olfactometer, males and females were significantly attracted to DMDS for both tested doses, whereas only males were attracted to p-cresol at 100 ng. Putrescine was repellent to males at the dose of 1 μg.

The importance of carcass volatiles as attractants for the hide beetle Dermestes maculatus (De Geer)

A decaying cadaver emits volatile organic compounds that are used by necrophilous and necrophagous insects in order to find their brood substrate. Although volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are released by carcasses have been identified, little is known about the specific compounds that are used by these insects while searching for a brood substrate. Therefore, we have investigated the chemical ecology involved in the attraction of the necrophagous hide beetle Dermestes maculatus, which feeds as an adult and larva upon decomposing carcasses. Our aims have been to identify the responsible compounds in the odours of the carcass that are important for the attraction of the beetles. Furthermore, we have studied sex- and age-related differences in beetle attraction and tested whether the hide beetle can distinguish between various stages of decomposition by means of the emitted odours. Headspace collection of volatiles released from piglet carcasses (bloated stage, post-bloating stage, advanced decay and dry remains), coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and bioassays were conducted to identify the volatiles responsible for the attraction of the beetles. Freshly emerged male beetles were attracted by the odour of piglets in the post-bloating stage (9 days after death; T(mean) = 27 °C) and the EAD-active compound benzyl butyrate. Statistical analysis revealed a higher relative proportion of benzyl butyrate in the odour bouquet of the post-bloating stage in comparison with the other stages. We therefore conclude that this compound plays an important role in the attraction of hide beetles to carcass odour. This underlines the potential use of D. maculatus for the estimation of the post mortem interval. The decomposition stage at which the female beetles are attracted to the odour of a cadaver remains unknown, as does the nature of this attraction. Pheromones (sexual or aggregation pheromones) might play an essential role correlated with their attraction to carrion and consequently with their attraction to the substrate for mating and ovipositioning.

Secondary metabolites released by the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides: chemical analyses and possible ecological functions

Burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus localize small vertebrate carcasses by emitted volatiles. The carcass that serves as reproduction and breeding site is buried in the soil by the beetles. Biparental care for offspring includes both preservation of the carrion and its preparation as diet and nursery. Buried carcasses show no signs of microbial decay, and those experimentally treated with Nicrophorus secretions are known to grow fewer bacteria and fungi. In order to investigate the chemical composition of these secretions, we used GC-MS for analysis of methanolic extracts of anal and oral secretions released by adult N. vespilloides. Furthermore, we analyzed the headspace of adult N. vespilloides by SPME-GC-MS and searched for compounds with known antimicrobial activity. We identified 34 compounds in the headspace, and anal and oral secretions, 26 of which occurred consistently. We discuss the ecological relevance of these compounds with respect to both their antimicrobial activity and ecological relevance.

The origin and dynamic evolution of chemical information transfer

Although chemical communication is the most widespread form of communication, its evolution and diversity are not well understood. By integrating studies of a wide range of terrestrial plants and animals, we show that many chemicals are emitted, which can unintentionally provide information (cues) and, therefore, act as direct precursors for the evolution of intentional communication (signals). Depending on the content, design and the original function of the cue, there are predictable ways that selection can enhance the communicative function of chemicals. We review recent progress on how efficacy-based selection by receivers leads to distinct evolutionary trajectories of chemical communication. Because the original function of a cue may channel but also constrain the evolution of functional communication, we show that a broad perspective on multiple selective pressures acting upon chemicals provides important insights into the origin and dynamic evolution of chemical information transfer. Finally, we argue that integrating chemical ecology into communication theory may significantly enhance our understanding of the evolution, the design and the content of signals in general.

Irresistible bouquet of death--how are burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorus) attracted by carcasses

Chemical composition of volatiles emitted from fresh mouse carcasses (laboratory mice, Mus musculus) was studied using solid sample injection technique (solid-phase micro-extraction), two-dimensional gas chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometric detection and gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection. Electroantennography (EAG) and laboratory olfactometric behavioural observations were used to study the antennal sensitivity to identified infochemicals and their attractiveness for burying beetles Nicrophorus vespillo and Nicrophorus vespilloides (Silphidae: Nicrophorinae). Chemical analysis showed that immediately after death, emitted volatiles did not differ from those emitted by a living organism. However, in the course of time, sulphur-containing chemicals, specifically methanethiol, methyl thiolacetate, dimethyl sulphide, dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulphide appear. EAG measurements revealed antennal sensitivity to these compounds. Behavioural tests in laboratory olfactometer showed that dimethyl sulphide, dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulphide are highly attractive to both studied species. The data suggest that sulphur-containing chemicals are involved in mediating the fresh carcass attractiveness for N. vespillo and N. vespilloides.