Evolution and Taxonomic Distribution of Volatile Pheromones in Cerambycine Longhorned Beetles
Volatile sex or aggregation pheromones play an important role in mate location in many groups of insects. The lack of variation in these pheromone communication systems among the best studied groups has hindered understanding of the evolution of volatile pheromone use in insects. The diverse beetle family Cerambycidae shows considerable variation in mate location strategies, roles of volatile pheromones, and organs involved in pheromone release, making it an ideal group for studying the evolution of pheromone communication in insects. Cerambycids are economically and ecologically important, but little is known of their natural history, the role of volatile pheromones, or of phylogenetic relationships within the family. This research contributes to the understanding of the evolution of pheromone communication and to the knowledge of the biology of species in the diverse cerambycid subfamily Cerambycinae by describing volatile aggregation pheromones of two species, by assessing the taxonomic distribution of a morphological trait associated with volatile pheromone production, and by proposing the first molecular phylogeny of cerambycine tribes.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign