Pheromone mounting

A component of the vaginal secretion, dimethyl disulfide, was found to be the major sex attractant of the golden hamster [ 59 ]. Volatile alcohols, fatty acids and, interestingly, dimethyl trisulfide in the secretion do not appear to enhance the attractancy of the secretion [60]. However, proteins in the mass range of 15-16 kDa that are present in the vaginal secretion act as a mounting pheromone [61]. No comprehensive chemical characterization of the semiochemical secretions of golden hamsters has yet been undertaken. 

The female sex pheromone of a mite, Rhizoglyphus rohini Claparede (Astigmata Acaridae), was identified as a-acaridial [2(T )-(4-methyl-3-pentenylj-butenedial], which stimulated males and enhanced male mounting behavior. This was the first time that two pheromones (the alarm pheromone neryl formate and the sex pheromone a-acaridial) have been... 

Figure 7.5 Tissue localization of HMG-R expression. Exposed whole mounts show that HMG-R mRNA is observed in the midgut of JH Ill-treated male D. jeffreyi (A) and I. pini (C), but not in untreated insects (B, D). Panels E through H show whole mount hybridizations of isolated I. pini alimentary canals. HMG-R expression in the anterior midgut (AMG, marked by brackets) correlates with pheromone production in starved, JH Ill-treated males (E) and fed males (G), while starved and untreated males (F, G), which do not produce monoterpenoid pheromone components, do not strongly express HMG-R. Asterisks mark non-specific signal in the hindguts. PV, pro-ventriculus HG, hindgut. Scale bars = 0.5 mm. Figure modified from Hall et al. (2002a, 2002b) with permission.

Air samplers were mounted in the center of each plot at 0.3, 2.0, 5.0 and 10 meters above ground. Samples were taken for consecutive 4 hour periods in overall 24 hour runs on a series of separate days up to 34 days after application. Samples of the laminates and hollow fibers were recovered from the plots and analyzed for pheromone residues on several days. 

The operating conditions were arrived at empirically by adjusting temperature, wind speed and illumination on a diurnal cycle until conditions were found which generated the same residual pheromone curve from a standard formulation in the tunnel as that formulation experienced in the field. For this standardization, one-eighth inch square Hereon flakes containing an average 13.3% TDAL by weight were used. This, as well as all other formulations, were tested, as nearly as possible, in the same form which they would have upon aerial application. They were either coated or mixed with a recommended sticker and measured aliquots were applied to rounds of filter paper. These were then mounted on racks in the test section of the tunnel. 

A few very robust and innate behaviors are triggered by pheromonal stimuli in mice. These include protection of pups by lactating mothers, mounting of females... 

Paralleling the findings for crabs, Stebbing et al. (2003) demonstrated that sexually mature female crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, released a pheromone that stimulated mating behavior in males. If water conditioned by mature females was passed through an air-stone into containers holding males, these males commonly seized, mounted, and in a few cases deposited spermatophores onto the air-stones. Such behaviors did not occur if the air-stones carried water conditioned by immature females or control water that had not held crayfish (see also Chap. 13). 

As a final example, consider the stereotypic standing reaction of estrous sows. This stance, which includes immobility, kyphosis, and ear pointing, is necessary for swine to copulate, and it is usually triggered by tactile cues on the back, normally from the mounting boar. As described by Signoret (1970), the response is promoted by a volatile boar pheromone (androstenone), though this odor is not normally necessary or sufficient to induce sows to adopt the stance. Rather, olfactory and auditory cues increase the probability of response. 

Nishimura, K., Okano, T., Utsumi, K., and Yuhara, M., 1984, Partial separation of mounting-inducing pheromones from vaginal mucus of... 

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