Abstract
E-2-ethyl-2-hexen-1-ol (1), mellein (4), and 4-hydroxymellein (5) were identified as the major volatile compounds in the head and/or thorax of Camponotus quadrisectus. Neither 1 nor 5 have been previously detected in insects. Also identified were small amounts of m-cresol (2) and 6-methyl salicylic acid (3). E-2-ethylhexenal (6) and small amounts of 3 were identified in heads of Camponotus irritibilis from Kuala Belalong, Brunei. Compounds 2–4 occur in other Bornean camponotines with hypertrophied mandibular glands, and 4 is widespread in the tribe. The possibility of semiochemical parsimony (multiple functions) for these mandibular gland compounds is reviewed in the context of existing data on mandibular gland products of other camponotines, reported biological activities of the compounds, and secondary loss of metapleural glands in this ant group.
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Acknowledgment
HLV and THJ gratefully acknowledge the support of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and thank Dr. Tom Spande (Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, NIH/NIDDK) for the GC/ FTIR spectra and Dr. Judith Cain for her NMR assistance. We are grateful to Dr. J. A. Findlay for copies of the GC-MS and 1H NMR spectra for 4-hydroxymellein for direct comparison with our data for compound 5. DWD thanks the National Geographic Society and the University of Utah Research Committee for support of field studies.
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Voegtle, H.L., Jones, T.H., Davidson, D.W. et al. E-2-Ethylhexenal, E-2-Ethyl-2-Hexenol, Mellein, and 4-Hydroxymellein in Camponotus Species from Brunei. J Chem Ecol 34, 215–219 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-008-9430-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-008-9430-6