Abstract
Male Neopyrochroa flabellata have a natural affinity for cantharidin (Spanish fly). They are attracted to cantharidin baits in the field and feed on the compound if it is offered to them in the laboratory. Males that ingest cantharidin secrete cantharidin from a cephalic gland. Females sample secretion from this gland during courtship and mate preferentially with males that had fed on cantharidin. Cantharidin-unfed males can be rendered acceptable to females if cantharidin is added to their cephalic gland.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Carrel J. E., Doom J. P., McCormick J. P. Quantitative determination of cantharidin in biological materials using capillary gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. J Chromatogr. 1985 Aug 9;342(2):411–415. doi: 10.1016/s0378-4347(00)84536-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Eisner T., Smedley S. R., Young D. K., Eisner M., Roach B., Meinwald J. Chemical basis of courtship in a beetle (Neopyrochroa flabellata): Cantharidin as "nuptial gift". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jun 25;93(13):6499–6503. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.13.6499. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]