Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (1997) 84, 127-135

J.R. Aldrich, W.S. Leal, R. Nishida, A.P. Khrimian, C.-J. Lee and Y. Sakuratani (1997)
Semiochemistry of aposematic seed bugs
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 84 (2), 127-135
Abstract: (E)-2,7-Octadienyl acetate and (E)-2-octenyl acetate (1:10 by volume) were identified as a pheromone attractive to both sexes of the lygaeid bug, Tropidothorax cruciger. In a parallel investigation of Neacoryphus bicrucis (Lygaeidae), (E,E)-2,4-hexadienyl acetate and phenethyl acetate (~9:1) were identified from males, and found attractive to both sexes of adults in the field plus a tachinid fly parasitoid of the bugs. In N. bicrucis, the pheromone was clearly shown to come from the tubular accessory glands of the metathoracic scent gland; this evidence, plus earlier literature reports for other species, indicate that male lygaeids are the pheromone emitters. In another lygaeid, Oncopeltus fasciatus, 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine was identified in the cardiac glycoside-laden fluid sequestered from milkweed hosts and expelled by these bugs when they are attacked. Alkyl methoxypyrazines are warning odorants associated with poisonous insect secretions, and their presence in O. fasciatus indicates that the plant-derived chemical defense of lygaeines is more elaborate than previously appreciated.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Walter Soares Leal, Ashot Khrimian, Jeffrey R. Aldrich, Ritsuo Nishida

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Oncopeltus fasciatus