WORKERS AND QUEENS OF THE EUROPEAN HORNET VESPA-CRABRO L HAVE COLONY-SPECIFIC CUTICULAR HYDROCARBON PROFILES (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

Cuticular hydrocarbons were extracted from sixty individual workers fr om six colonies of Vespa crabro L. and analyzed by combined gas-chroma tography/mass spectrometry. Discriminant analysis of the cuticular hyd rocarbon profiles of workers and queens showed that the wasps could be grouped by colony and by caste. Stepwise discriminant analysis select ed the components which were weighted most heavily in these analyses. Different combinations of cuticular hydrocarbons were important in gro uping workers by colony, queens and workers by colony, and workers and queens by caste.