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Alkenes as a Sexual Pheromone in the Alfalfa Leaf-Cutter Bee Megachile rotundata

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Abstract

Because of its special biological features, the leaf-cutter bee Megachile rotundata is particularly well suited for breeding and use as a pollinator for fodder plants such as alfalfa. Its mating behavior has been extensively studied. Behavioral tests have shown that males explore any black spot as a potential mating partner. However, exclusive selection of young virgin females suggests involvement of olfactory cues in addition to visual stimuli. Experiments demonstrated that mating behavior could be induced in males by lures covered with pentane extracts of the epicuticular waxes of young females. These extracts contain 35% fatty acids, 26% alkanes, and 39% monoenes. Variations in the monoene subfraction allow distinction between young virgin females, which possess more 7-pentacosene and 9-pentacosene, and older females, which have more 5-monoenes. The findings show that male mate-seeking and copulatory activity is stimulated only by young female monoenes. A 40% increase in this activity was observed.

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Author notes

  1. Ivan Paulmier

    Present address: C.T.B.A. Laboratoire de Biologie, BP 227, 33028, Bordeaux Cedex, France

  2. Germaine Rivière

    Present address: N.B.M., C.N.R.S.-UPR 9011, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13009, Marseille, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Neurobiologie, C.N.R.S.-UPR 9024, Communication Chimique, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 9, France

    Ivan Paulmier, Anne-Geneviève Bagnères, Georges Dusticier, Germaine Rivière & Jean-Luc Clément

  2. Laboratorio de Quimica, Faculdade de Farmacia, rua Anibal Cunha, 4000, Porto, Portugal

    Carlos M. M. Afonso

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Paulmier, I., Bagnères, AG., Afonso, C.M.M. et al. Alkenes as a Sexual Pheromone in the Alfalfa Leaf-Cutter Bee Megachile rotundata . J Chem Ecol 25, 471–490 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020993518226

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