Abstract
Larvae of the European cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae (Pieridae), are beset with glandular hairs, bearing droplets of a clear oily secretion at their tip. The fluid consists primarily of a series of chemically labile, unsaturated lipids, the mayolenes, which are derived from 11-hydroxylinolenic acid. In bioassays with the ant Crematogaster lineolata, the secretion was shown to be potently deterrent, indicating that the fluid plays a defensive role in nature.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 6822-6827 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 14 2002 |
Keywords
- Chemical defense
- Formicidae
- Lepidoptera
- Predation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General