Can Pheromones Contribute to Phylogenetic Hypotheses? A Case Study of Chrysomelidae

Pheromones mediate species-level communication in the search for mates, nesting, and feeding sites. Although the role of pheromones has long been discussed by various authors, their existence was not proven until the mid-twentieth century when the first sex pheromone was identified. From this findin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical ecology 2023-12, Vol.49 (11-12), p.611-641
Main Authors: dos Santos, Aluska T., Souza, João P. A., Jorge, Isaac R., Andrade, Samara M. M., Rosa, Brunno B., Moura, Maurício O., Zarbin, Paulo H. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Biochemistry
Biological Microscopy
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Coleoptera
Ecology
Entomology
Life Sciences
Pheromones
Phylogeny
Sex Attractants - chemistry
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Summary:Pheromones mediate species-level communication in the search for mates, nesting, and feeding sites. Although the role of pheromones has long been discussed by various authors, their existence was not proven until the mid-twentieth century when the first sex pheromone was identified. From this finding, much has been speculated about whether this communication mechanism has acted as a regulatory agent in the process of speciation, competition, and sexual selection since it acts as an intraspecific barrier. Chrysomelidae is one of the major Phytophaga lineages, with approximately 40,000 species. Due to this immense diversity the internal relationships remain unstable when analyzed only with morphological data, consequently recent efforts have been directed to molecular analyses to establish clarity for the relationships and found their respective monophyly. Therefore, our goals are twofold 1) to synthesize the current literature on Chrysomelidae sex pheromones and 2) to test whether Chrysomelidae sex pheromones and their chemical structures could be used in phylogenetic analysis for the group. The results show that, although this is the first analysis in Chrysomelidae to use pheromones as a phylogenetic character, much can be observed in agreement with previous analyses, thus confirming that pheromones, when known in their entirety within lineages, can be used as characters in phylogenetic analyses, bringing elucidation to the relationships and evolution of organisms.
ISSN:0098-0331
1573-1561
DOI:10.1007/s10886-023-01450-1