Termites, pheromones

The C. are widely distributed in nature. They occur, among others, in essential oils of Pinus species, tobacco, and in various resins. C. A acts as a termite pheromone. From the cloaca gland of the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis, males), Cembrene A and the ketone (X) have been isolated, which act as pheromones on females. ... 

What is called chemical parsimony (stinginess) is applied among termite pheromones. One compound serves as pheromone for a number of species. Moreover, dodecadienol, produced by females at higher concentration, acts as sex pheromone for males (about 0.1 pg cm for trails and about 1 ng as sex pheromone). This dual use also applies to (Z,Z,E)-3,6, 8-dodecatrien-l-ol, which in some Rhinotermitidae acts as trail pheromone, at low concentration, and sex pheromone at higher concentration. 

Recent trend in the synthesis of olefinic pheromones is the use of transition metal-catalyzed cross coupling reaction for carbon-carbon bond formation. Scheme 8 summarizes a synthesis of the termite trail marker pheromone, (3Z,6Z)-3,6-dodecadien- l-ol (2) by Oehlschlager [19]. The key-step is the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of allylic chloride A and alkenylalane B. 

Billen J, Morgan ED (1998) Pheromone communication in social insects sources and secretions. In Vander Meer RK, Breed MD, Espelie KE, Winston ML (eds) Pheromone communication in social insects ants, wasps,bees and termites. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, p 3... 

The power of pheromones to act as agents of emergent behavior is perhaps nowhere better exemplified than by the ants. The termites, another highly successful group of social insects, provides a comparably compelling story. However, let s move on to communication by pheromones in mammals. 

The blind snake Leptotyphlops dulcis is a specialized burrower that feeds on termites and ant brood. It follows the ant pheromone trails to find its prey (Section 12.1). when attacked by ants, this snake tilts its scales individually so that the skin appears silvery. While it writhes, it covers itself with feces and a clear viscous fluid, discharged from the anus. It may also assume a stationary coiled position. when it resumes searching and feeding, it is no longer attacked by ants. The effect lasts from 3 to 30 minutes (Gehlbach etal., 1968). Here a predatory species protects itself from the defensive actions of its prey. 

Blind snakes find their prey by using the prey s pheromones. The wormlike Texas blind snake, Leptotyphlops dulcis, of the southwestern United States leads a subterranean life and feeds on termites and ant brood. It finds ants by following their pheromone trails (Gehlbach etal, 1968). Other blind snakes such as the American blindsnake, Typhlops pusillus (Gehlbach et al, 1971), and the Australian blindsnake, Ramphotyphlops nigrescens (Webb and Shine, 1992), also follow odor trails of ants, their prey. Texas blind snakes are attracted to the simple alkaloid skatole (methyl indole Fig. 12.4), an amine with an unpleasant odor from the ant Neivamyrmex sp. (Watkins etal, 1969). 

The diterpene, Neocembrene A, or (l , 5A, 9A, 12i )-l,5,9-trimethyl-12-(l-methyl-ethenyl)-l,5,9-cyclotetradecatriene has been identified after SPME and GC-MS analysis as the major component of the trail-following pheromone of the Rhinotermitidae Prorhinotermitinae, Prorhinotermes canalifrons and P. simplex. In all other Rhinotermitidae studied so far, the major component of the trail pheromone has been dodecatrienol. Hydro-quinone was identified for the first time as a phagostimulating pheromone in the Australian termite species, Mastotermes darwiniensis. ... 

F. J. Ritter and C. J. Persoons, Trail Pheromones and Related Compounds in Termites and Ants. Proceedings of the Eighth Congress of lUSSI, p. 34. Pudoc, Wageningen, 1977. 

Epoxy-cis-eudesmane (300), the defence pheromone of the West African termite, has been synthesized from lO-epi-y-eudesmol (299) by means of an... 

Of the eight orders in this group, no sex pheromones are known in the Grylloblattaria and Embiidina. Of the remaining orders, probably the best studied are the cockroaches and termites, particularly the latter because of the involvement of pheromonal signals in their social structure (Vander Meer el al., 1998). 

Billen J. and Morgan E. D. (1998) Pheromone communication in social insects sources and secretions. In Pheromone Communication in Social Insects Ants, Wasps, Bees, and Termites, eds R. K. Vander Meer, M. D. Breed, K. E. Espelie and M. L. Winston, pp. 3-33. 

Bordereau C., Robert A., Bonnard O. and Lequere J. L. (1997) (3Z, 6Z, 8E)-3, 6, 8-dodecatrien-l-ol. Sex pheromone in a higher fungus-growing termite Pseudacanthotermes spiniger (Isoptera Marotermitidae). J. Chem. Ecol. 17, 2177-2191. 

Gessner S. and Leuthold R. H. (2001) Caste-specificity of pheromone trails in the termite Macrotermes bellicosus. Insectes Soc. 48, 238-244. 

Peppuy A., Robert A., Semon E., Bonnard O., Son N. T. and Bordereau C. (2001a) Species specificity of trail pheromones of fungus-growing termites from northern Vietnam. Insectes Soc. 48, 245-250. 

Reinhard J., Lacey M. J., Ibarra F., Schroeder F. C., Kaib M. and Lenz M. (2002) Hydroquinone a general phagostimulating pheromone in termites. J. Chem. Ecol. 28, 1-14. 

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