Abstract
Chemical constituents of host plants have been suggested to affect in part the ability of certain insects to produce sex pheromones, and thus their ability to reproduce1. We have investigated such a relationship between the bark beetle Ips paraconfusus (Coleoptera, Scolytidae) and its host tree Pinus ponderosa. The pheromone system of the insect is well characterised 2–4 and, as we report here, myrcene, a constituent of the host oleoresin system, is converted in the male beetle to its pheromones, ipsenol and ipsdienol. We used deuterium labelling techniques2 to demonstrate for the first time the unequivocal conversion of a host plant chemical to an insect pheromone.
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