The presence of the alarm pheromone was demonstrated in the hexane extract of an acarid mite Tyroborus lini Oudemans 1924. The active fraction derived from an SiO 2 column chromatography of the mite extract was identified as neryl formate, (Z)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienyl formate by GC/MS and GC analysis. The synthesized neryl formate was shown to be active at 0.05-1 ng dose. Males contained 0.08 ng of the compound on average, and females 0.16 ng on average. The alarm pheromone was a component present in the opisthonotal gland. Once totally discharged from the gland upon disturbance, it took seven days before the pheromone content reached to its original level in the gland, whereas other compounds recovered within 60 hrs. The reason remains obscure at present.
Hexane extracts derived from an unidentified Oulenzia sp. showed the alarm pheromone activity. The extract was composed of the following 10 compounds; tridecane, neral, pentadecane, dodecane, 3-hydroxybenzene-1,2-dicarbaldehyde, geranial, (Z)-7-pentadecene and 7-hydroxyphthalide in decreasing order together with two unknown compounds. After fractionation with a silica gel column, the active fraction consisted of a mixture of neral and geranial. Neral was found to show the activity, but geranial was not. Neral was, therefore, identified as the alarm pheromone of this species.
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