Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 28, No. 6, June 2002 (  C 2002) CUTICULAR HYDROCARBON PROFILES OF DOMINANT VERSUS SUBORDINATE MALE Nauphoeta cinerea COCKROACHES ESTELLE ROUX, 1 LEAM SRENG, 1,3,∗ ERIC PROVOST, 1,4 MAURICE ROUX, 2 and JEAN-LUC CLEMENT 1 1 CNRS, Laboratoire. de Neurobiologie “Communication Chimique” 31, Chemin Joseph Aiguier 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France 2 Universit´ e d’Aix-Marseille III Laboratoire de Biomath´ ematiques Av. Escadrille Normandie Niemen 13397 Marseille, France (Received August 28, 2001; accepted February 6, 2002) Abstract—Interactions between male Nauphoeta cinerea cockroaches are char- acterized by an elaborate ritual that leads to a stable dominant–subordinate hierarchy between two individuals. Chemical signals involving volatile sex pheromones and cuticular hydrocarbons play an important role in establishing and maintaining dominance status. The present study was performed to identify cuticular hydrocarbons in two- and three-times dominant or subordinate indi- viduals obtained by forcing dyadic encounters. Two methods, i.e., solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and organic solvent extraction, were used to isolate cu- ticular hydrocarbons. A total of 23 peaks of cuticular hydrocarbons were identi- fied. Analysis showed quantitative differences in hydrocarbon profiles of three- times dominant and subordinate individuals according to extraction method and dominance status. Dominant individuals were characterized by higher propor- tions of the monomethylalkanes 11- and 13-MeC 36 , 13- and 15-MeC 38 , and 11-, 13-, and 15-MeC 35 , while subordinate individuals had higher proportions of the following monomethylalkanes: 7-, 9-, and 11-MeC 31 , 5-MeC 31 , 3- and 8-MeC 32 , and 9-, 10- , 11-, and 12-MeC 32 . Discussion focuses on the reliability of hydrocarbons as indicators of dominance status and on their correlation with physiological processes. ∗ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sreng@irlnb.cnrs-mrs.fr 3 Present address: CNRS, Institut de Neurosciences Physiologiques et Cognitives (INPC), 31, Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France. 4 Present address: CNRS, Institut M´ editerran´ een d’Ecologie et de Pal´ eo´ ecologie (IMEP), Europˆ ole M´ editerran´ een de l’Arbois, 13090 Aix en Provence, France. 1221 0098-0331/02/0600-1221/0 C  2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation