Abstract
Insect predators can be guided to their prey by a kairomonal response to the prey pheromone. We found this phenomenon to be highly specific in the bark beetle predatorThanasimus dubius. Olfactory responses and behavioral tests revealed that the predator is guided to its major preyDendroctonusfrontalis by the primary enantiomer of the pheromone of the prey, (1S, 5R)-(−)-frontalin. These and other findings suggest the co-evolution of a kairomone system of the predator and the pheromone system of its prey.
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Texas Agricultural Experiment Station paper No.TA17770. The work was funded in part by McIntire-Stennis project 1525 (TAES) and the USDA program entitled “The Expanded Southern Pine Beetle Research and Applications Program” through TAES-CSRS grant 680-15-10. The findings, opinions, and recommendations reported herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the United States Department of Agriculture.
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Payne, T.L., Dickens, J.C. & Richerson, J.V. Insect predator-prey coevolution via enantiomeric specificity in a kairomone-pheromone system. J Chem Ecol 10, 487–492 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988094