An unexpected mixture of substances in the defensive secretions of the tubuliferan thrips, Callococcithrips fuscipennis (Moulton).
Adults and larvae of the thrips Callococcithrips fuscipennis (Moulton) (Thysanoptera: Tubulifera: Phlaeothripidae) live in the sticky wax masses of adult females of the felt scale insect Callococcus acaciae (Maskell) (Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Eriococcidae). The scale is sessile and feeds on Kunzea shrubs (Myrtales: Myrtaceae). If stressed, the thrips produce droplets of secretions. The mixture contains pentadecane, tridecane, two monoterpenoids, hexadecyl butanoate, and smaller amounts of 15 other esters of long-chain unbranched alcohols identified as acetates, butanoates, hexanoates, and octanoates. The monoterpenoids are dolichodial, an iridoid, and an unknown substance with a mass spectrum very similar to that of anisomorphal and peruphasmal, diastereomers of dolichodial, but with a different retention time. Iridoids, butanoates, hexanoates, and octanoates have not been previously identified in Thysanoptera.
Tschuch
Gunther
G
Developmental Biology, Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06099, Halle, Germany. gunther.tschuch@zoologie.uni-halle.de
Lindemann
Peter
P
Moritz
Gerald
G
D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry
D045424:Complex Mixtures; D009930:Organic Chemicals