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Cuticular Surface Hydrocarbons of Desert Locust Nymphs, Schistocerca gregaria, and Their Effect on Phase Behavior

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Abstract

The quantity of cuticular hydrocarbons is higher in solitarious nymphs of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, compared to gregarious nymphs, but the total hydrocarbon fraction of solitarious nymphs does not significantly divert behavioral transition of isolated nymphs to the gregarious phase, while gregarious hydrocarbon extracts do. This suggests that qualitative differences in composition are responsible for the biological effect. The profile of cuticular hydrocarbon components is similar in the two phases, but some peak ratios differ. Crowding of solitarious nymphs leads to rapid changes in the profile of the hydrocarbon fraction, suggesting that specific hydrocarbons are produced and secreted as a consequence. Isolating previously crowded nymphs has an opposite effect. The composition of cuticular hydrocarbons from the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria, which differs considerably from that of S. gregaria, does not induce the gregarious behavioral phase in solitarious nymphs of the latter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Yael Heifetz & Shalom W. Applebaum

  2. Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Irena Miloslavski & Zeev Aizenshtat

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  1. Yael Heifetz
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  2. Irena Miloslavski
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  3. Zeev Aizenshtat
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  4. Shalom W. Applebaum
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Heifetz, Y., Miloslavski, I., Aizenshtat, Z. et al. Cuticular Surface Hydrocarbons of Desert Locust Nymphs, Schistocerca gregaria, and Their Effect on Phase Behavior. J Chem Ecol 24, 1033–1047 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022302519373

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