Spider pheromones

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( R ) -3-Hydroxybutyric acid, the first known spider pheromone

Spider pheromones are messenger substances that facilitate chemical communication between individuals of a spider species . They are produced by an individual and released into the air or onto the spider web . For the receiving individual with specific molecular receptors in their sensory cells , these pheromones represent a stimulus that is converted into a signal.

history

Although insect pheromones had been known and identified since the end of the 1950s, the first evidence of a spider pheromone was not made until 1993. The pheromone identified was chemically ( R ) - 3-hydroxybutanoic acid and its dimeric adduct.

This substance is released when the net is touched and is absorbed by the male. The said pheromone was isolated from the webs of female spiders of the species Linyphia triangularis . The assumption that the webs could contain pheromones arose from the observation that once attracted male spiders cut the threads of the webs (of females) in order to condense the web in such a way that further emission of the sex pheromone and thus the attraction of further males is minimized.

The first established sex pheromone of spiders, which spreads primarily through the air, is 8-methylnonan-2-one . The effectiveness of synthesized pheromones could be demonstrated using a method similar to the electroantennogram .

literature

  • Christian A. Olsen, Anders S. Kristensen, Kristian Strömgaard: Low-molecular compounds from spiders as chemical sensors. In: Angewandte Chemie. 123, 2011, pp. 11492–11508, doi : 10.1002 / anie.201101599 .

Web links

Commons : Pheromones  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Pheromone  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Adolf Butenandt, Rüdiger Beckmann, D. Stamm: About the sex attractant of the silk moth. In: Journal of Nature Research B . 14, 1959, pp. 283-384 ( online ).
  2. ↑ a b S. Schulz, S. Toft: Identification of a Sex Pheromone from a Spider. In: Science. 260, 1993, pp. 1635-1637, doi : 10.1126 / science.260.5114.1635 .
  3. ↑ P. Watson: Transmission of a female sex pheromone thwarted by males in the spider Linyphia litigiosa (Linyphiidae). In: Science. 233, 1986, pp. 219-221, doi : 10.1126 / science.3726530 .
  4. ↑ Mirjam D. Papke, Susan E. Riechert, Stefan Schulz: An airborne female pheromone associated with male attraction and courtship in a desert spider. In: Animal Behavior. 61, 2001, pp. 877-886, doi : 10.1006 / anbe.2000.1675 .