Pheromone-based Arrestment Behavior in the Common Silverfish, Lepisma saccharina, and Giant Silverfish, Ctenolepisma longicaudata

Abstract

Aggregations of the common silverfish, Lepisma saccharina, and giant silverfish, Ctenolepisma longicaudata (both Thysanura: Lepismatidae), are mediated by species-specific pheromones. In dual-choice, still-air olfactometer experiments, filter paper previously exposed to 12 male, female, or juvenile L. saccharina or C. longicaudata arrested conspecifics regardless of developmental stage or sex. Arrestment responses required physical contact with the pheromone. Insect-derived frass, scales, antennae, and setae, as well as salivary gland content, are not the source of the contact pheromone in L. saccharina. Lepisma saccharina did not respond to the pheromone of C. longicaudata, nor to that of another thysanuran, the firebrat Thermobia domestica. However, C. longicaudata responded to pheromones of both L. saccharina and T domestica, whereas T. domestica responded to the C. longicaudata but not L. saccharina pheromone. These results support the hypothesis that a closer phylogenetic relationship exists between C. longicaudata and T domestica than between C. longicaudata and L. saccharina, but a definitive conclusion must await molecular genetic analyses of all three species.