One Hundred Million Years of Chemical Warfare by Insects
| Autor: | G. O. Poinar, R. Buckley, C. J. Marshall |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2007 |
| Předmět: |
Entomology
Fossil Record biology Fossils Ecology media_common.quotation_subject fungi General Medicine Insect biology.organism_classification Biochemistry Pheromones Amber Coleoptera Exocrine Glands Chemical warfare Predatory Behavior Animals Chemical defense Predator Soldier beetle Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Antenna (biology) media_common |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Chemical Ecology. 33:1663-1669 |
| ISSN: | 1573-1561 0098-0331 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10886-007-9343-9 |
| Popis: | An important defensive strategy among animals is the use of chemical compounds with toxic or irritating properties. In this paper, we report the discovery of an Early Cretaceous soldier beetle (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) in Burmese amber that seemingly employed a chemical defense response against a potential predator. Six pairs of cuticular vesicles with associated gland reservoirs were extruded from the insect's abdomen, and a secretion released from one of these covers a portion of the antenna of a second insect species, considered to be the perpetrator of the response. This is the earliest fossil record of a putative chemical defense response and suggests that chemical defense mechanisms in beetles have been in existence for at least 100 Ma. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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