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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Cuticle alkanes of honeybee larvae mediate arrestment of bee parasite Varroa jacobsoni
    The ectoparasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni invades worker brood cells of the honeybee Apis mellifera during the last 20 hr before the cells are sealed with a wax cap. Cuticle extracts of 8-day-old worker honeybee larvae occupying such brood cells have an arrestment effect on the mite. The mites run for prolonged periods on the extract, systematically returning onto the stimulus after touching the borders of the treated area. Mites increase walking speed and path straightness in response to increasing doses of a nonpolar fraction of the cuticle extract. Saturated straight-chain odd-numbered C19–C29 hydrocarbons were identified by thin-layer argentation chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as the most active constituents, with branched alkanes also contributing to the arrestment effect of this active fraction. Analysis of the behavior responses to synthetic n-alkanes indicate that the response is probably based on a synergism between the different alkane components of the fraction rather than to an individual compound.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Biosynthesis, production site, and emission rates of aggregation-attachment pheromone in males of two Amblyomma ticks
    The aggregation-attachment pheromone componentso-nitrophenol (ONP) and methyl salicylate (MS) in male Amblyomma variegatum ticks appeared after three days of feeding on the host and reached high values after about six days. Variable quantities of 1.3–7.3 μg ONP and about 0.6 μg MS were present within ticks. ONP and MS were released at the high rates of 300–1800 ng/hr and 20–600 ng/hr per male tick, respectively. After a temporary decrease, males continued to emit at high rates after nearby attachment of females. In A. hebraeum, ONP showed a similar pattern, but with a delay of about a day. A male, which had fed during 14 days, contained about 2 μg and released 225–280 ng/hr. Emission in forcibly detached males of both species dropped rapidly to low levels of less than 10 ng/hr per tick. Host skin and tick feces in the vicinity of feeding males were pheromoneimpregnated. The very high emission rates are consistent with the observations that the pheromone is an important component of the host-location mechanism of conspecifics. ONP and MS are produced in the dermal glands type 2 associated with the ventrolateral cuticle.