Moth uses fine tuning for odour resolution

Male moths, when responding to their species' blend of sex pheromones, cease their upwind flight when additional compounds are added to the mixture. Often these behavioural antagonists are the pheromone components of sympatric species that emit similar pheromone blends, and thus may function to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1998-06, Vol.393 (6685), p.530-530
Main Authors: Baker, T. C, Fadamiro, H. Y, Cosse, A. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Butterflies & moths
Humanities and Social Sciences
Males
multidisciplinary
Pheromones
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
scientific-correspondence
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Male moths, when responding to their species' blend of sex pheromones, cease their upwind flight when additional compounds are added to the mixture. Often these behavioural antagonists are the pheromone components of sympatric species that emit similar pheromone blends, and thus may function to prevent mating with females of the wrong species. Antagonists must be emitted from the same point source as the pheromone blend to be optimally effective, suggesting a fine discrimination between the occurrence of pheromone and antagonist.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/31131