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The composition of beeswax and other waxes secreted by insects

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Lipids

Abstract

This review deals, with waxes of members of two quite different groups of insects, the bees and the scale insects, which secrete large amounts of wax. The former use was as a structural material and the latter as a protective material. The compositions of waxes from some of these insects are described and particular attention is paid to the compositions of the unhydrolyzed waxes and to the presence of hydroxy acids. New analyses of beeswax and of wax of a species of bumble bee are reported. The structures of the diesters, hydroxyesters and diols of beeswax are elucidated. The bumble bee wax contains major proportions of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, and of long chain saturated, mono- and diunsaturated esters. The relationship between structure and function of the waxes is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council of Canada, Prairie Regional Laboratory, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

    A. P. Tulloch

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  1. A. P. Tulloch
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Additional information

Issued as National Research Council of Canada No. 11260.

One of six papers to be published from the Symposium on Natural Waxes, presented at the AOCS Meeting, San Francisco, April 1969.

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Tulloch, A.P. The composition of beeswax and other waxes secreted by insects. Lipids 5, 247–258 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02532476

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02532476

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