R. Crewe, M. Blum
Dec 1, 1970
Citations
1
Influential Citations
18
Citations
Journal
Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie
Abstract
Summary1.The identification of the novel natural products, 6-methyl-3-octanone and 3-nonanone in extracts obtained from the mandibular glands of Myrmica brevinodis is reported. These compounds accompany the compounds 3-octanone and 3-octanol which have already been identified from this extract.2.Both 6-methyl-3-octanone and 3-nonanone were found to be capable of releasing alarm behaviour in M. brevinodis.3.The distribution of these compounds in the alarm pheromones of six North American and four European species of Myrmica was determined.4.A gas chromatographic comparison of the extracts of various species of Myrmica indicated that seven of the ten species gave very similar chromatograms (Fig. 1) which differ only in the ratios of the two major constituents 3-octanone and 3-octanol (Table 3). The remaining three species produce chromatograms so different from those of the majority, that they are easily set apart. The implications of these results for behavioural and taxonomic studies are discussed.