Overview
- Transferring the chemical profile from fatally infected pupae to healthy brood caused workers to destroy the treated individuals, demonstrating that the cue itself drives the response.
- After detecting the cue, workers opened cocoons, bit small holes in the pupa, and applied formic acid that disinfected pathogens while killing the pupa.
- The signal appeared only when workers were present, indicating active production by doomed pupae rather than a passive byproduct of infection.
- Worker pupae emitted the cue, whereas queen pupae typically did not, aligning with evidence that queens often recover due to stronger immune defenses.
- Researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the University of Würzburg report that the non‑volatile, surface‑tied compounds keep the warning localized to the infected individual in dense nests.