Allomon

An allomon ( Greek ἄλλος állos , German 'other' , ancient Greek ὁρμᾶν hormān , German ' to drive' ) is in the broader sense any substance that conveys information between individuals of different biological species . The term is mostly used in the narrower sense for a semiochemical , i.e. a messenger substance between different species that is only beneficial for the sender.

Classification

1-butanethiol , a component of the defensive secretion of the skunk

Allomones serve, among other things, the defense, such as the plant defense against herbivores . The defensive secretions of insects or the skunk are among the Allomonen. Allomones can also be antibodies against parasites .

The allomones include repellants that serve for defense, attractants that serve to attract, toxins , allelopathics , antibiotics and inductants that trigger the formation of bile and nodules .

Allomones act like the kairomones and the synomones between different species, so they are allelochemicals and are thus opposed to the pheromones that work within a species.

Examples

Attraction

The lima bean ( Phaseolus lunatus ) produced at infestation of red spider mite Tetranychus urticae , which allomone linalool having a predatory mite ( Phytoseiulus persimilis ), d. H. a natural enemy of the plant pest. This destroys the predator of the Lima bean and thus frees the plant from its pest.

Sexual mimicry

Dasyscolia ciliata on an Ophrys flower

The Ragwurzen use the release of insectoid sexual attractants in order to stimulate the males of certain insect species to pseudo-population in order to be pollinated themselves. This use of pheromones is known as sexual mimicry. The flowers of the Ragwurzen are similar to insects, which is reflected in terms such as Bee-Ragwurz and Fly-Ragwurz . The function of this form was unknown for a long time. Charles Darwin already described that bees attacked the flowers of this species of orchid and treated them like a devil who had to be fought. In 1916, M. Poyanne observed that the males of the dagger wasp species Dasyscolia ciliata were trying to mate the flowers of the mirrored ragweed . He concluded that the males mistook the flowers for their females.

Bolas spiders mimic the sexual attractants of owl butterflies to attract and catch male butterflies. By optimizing the proportions emitted, the spiders succeed in attracting males of different species depending on the time of day.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Schaefer: Dictionary of Ecology . 4th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0167-4 , p. 14.
2. ↑ Albert Gossauer: Structure and reactivity of biomolecules . Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta, Zurich 2006, ISBN 978-3-906390-29-1 , p. 133.
3. ^ Dieter Schlee: Ecological Biochemistry . 2nd Edition. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1992, ISBN 3-334-60393-8 , p. 229.
4. ↑ Nentwig, Bacher, Beierkuhnlein, Brandl, Grabherr: Ökologie. Elsevier Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-8274-0172-0 , pp. 259-260.
5. ↑ Pflanzenschutzamt Hamburg: Biological plant protection: beneficial insects .
6. ^ Hannes F. Paulus: How insect males are deceived by orchid flowers - pollination tricks and evolution in the Mediterranean ragwort genus Ophrys . In: Denisia . tape 20 , 2007, p. 255–294 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed September 6, 2013]).
7. ↑ H. Correvon, M. Pouyanne: A curious case of mimicry in Ophrys. In: J. Soc. Nat. Horticult France , 4, 1916, pp. 29-47.
8. ↑ MK Stowe, JH Tumlinson, RR Heath: Chemical Mimicry: Bolas Spiders Emit Components of Moth Prey Species Sex Pheromones. In: Science. 236, 1987, pp. 964-967, doi: 10.1126 / science.236.4804.964 .
9. ↑ KF Haynes, C. Gemeno, KV Yeargan, JG Millar, KM Johnson: Aggressive chemical mimicry of moth pheromones by a bolas spider: how does this specialist predator attract more than one species of prey? In: Chemoecology , 12, 2002, pp. 99-105, doi: 10.1007 / s00049-002-8332-2 .