PHEROMONAL MEDIATION OF ALARM IN THE EASTERN YELLOWJACKET (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

Eastern yellow jacket, Vespula maculifrons (Buysson), workers exhibite d alarm responses to a target sphere treated with an extract of conspe cific workers or an extract of the wasp sting apparatus. Workers of Ve spula squamosa also responded to extracts of the sting apparatus of Ve spula maculifrons, indicating some cross reactivity of their alarm phe romones. N-3-methylbutylacetamide, a known alarm pheromone of the sout hern yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa (Drury), was found in the extract of the eastern yellowjacket venom sac and also elicited alarm in worke r V. maculifrons, although only when presented at an unnaturally high dose.