title: High conservatism in the composition of scent gland secretions in cyphophthalmid harvestmen: evidence from pettalidae.
abstract: The scent gland secretion of Austropurcellia forsteri was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, providing the first description of the secretion chemistry in the cyphophthalmid family Pettalidae. The secretion contained a total of 21 compounds: About 60% of the whole secretion consisted of a series of saturated, mono-unsaturated and doubly unsaturated methylketones, from C11 to C15, with a cluster of saturated and mono-unsaturated C13-methylketones dominating. A second fraction included several naphthoquinones such as 1,4-naphthoquinone (ca. 20% of secretion), 6-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (ca. 17%), and minor amounts of chloronaphthoquinones (ca. 2%). When compared with scent gland compositions of other representatives of cyphophthalmids (e.g. from families Sironidae and Stylocellidae), a highly conservative chemistry of cyphophthalmid secretions is apparent, based on a restricted number of methylketones and naphthoquinones.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Karl-Franzens University, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria. guenther.raspotnig@uni-graz.at
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raspotnig
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karaman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001097:Arachnida / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D008297:Male; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012543:Scent Glands / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals