Olfaction is generally assumed to be critical for survival because this sense allows animals to detect food and pheromonal cues. Although the ability to sense sex pheromones [1, 2, 3] is likely to be important for insects, the contribution of general odor detection to survival is unknown. We investigated the extent to which the olfactory system confers a survival advantage on Drosophila larvae ...

A critical stage in the success of a parasitoid is the ability to locate a host within its habitat. It is hypothesized that a series of olfactory cues may be involved in altering the parasitoid's movement patterns at this stage of foraging. This paper focuses specifically on host habitat location and host location and the olfactory stimuli necessary to mediate the transition between these stage...

(3E,5Z)-3,5-dodecadienyl acetate was identified by Unelius C.R. et al. as the sex pheromone of the leafroller Bonagota cranaodes (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), an economically important insect pest of apples in Southern Brazil. In order to elucidate the pheromone structure this compound was first prepared by a methodology in low stereoselectivity and yield. Recently a concise synthesis was reporte...

Imposex, male secondary sexual characteristics in female snails, is a morphological indicator of sub-lethal exposure to organotin compounds. The relation between imposex and behavioral responses to sex pheromones was studied. Responses of snails to sex specific pheromones were determined in laboratory assays. Females and males from a low imposex site and females, imposex females and males from ...

Electrical responses of single olfactory receptor neurons of the male redbanded leafroller moth were elicited by each of the principle components of the sex pheromone and six other behaviorally active compounds. Response frequencies to equal intensities of each of these compounds and changes in response frequency with increasing amounts of any one compound, varied from receptor to receptor. Th...

The evolution of chemical communication and the origin of pheromones are among the most challenging issues in chemical ecology. Current theory predicts that chemical communication can arise from compounds primarily evolved for non-communicative purposes but experimental evidence showing a gradual evolution of non-informative compounds into cues and true signals is scarce. Here we report that fe...

A sex pheromone isolated from the cuticle and feces of the female house fly attracts the male fly; it has been identified as (Z)-9-tricosene. Chemical and biological comparisons of the natural and synthesized compounds show that they are identical.

The winter moth, Operophtera brumata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), is an early-season defoliator that attacks a wide variety of hardwoods and, in some cases, conifers. The insect is native to Europe but has become established in at least three areas of North America including southeastern New England. The female-produced sex attractant pheromone of the winter moth was identified as (3Z,6Z,9Z)-1,3...

Animal communication theory holds that in order to be evolutionarily stable, signals must be honest on average, but significant dishonesty (i.e. deception) by a subset of the population may also evolve. A typical praying mantid mating system involves active mate searching by males, which is guided by airborne sex pheromones in most species for which mate-searching cues have been studied. The Fe...

Third instar larvae of the cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) were reared with artificial diet containing a Bacillus thuringiensis-abamectin (BtA) biopesticide mixture that resulted in 20% mortality (LD20). The adult male survivors from larvae treated with BtA exhibited a higher percentage of "orientation" than control males but lower percentages of "approaching" and "landing" in wind tunne...