Chemical composition of volatile substances from adults of the swallowtail, Papilio polytes (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Abstract

Adults of the swallowtail butterfly Papilio polytes have a faint scent, which is stronger in males than in females. From the solvent extracts from adults, six relatively high-volatile substances including linalool, nonanal, and decanal were detected in small amounts. Since males contained more linalool than females in the average amount per individual, this compound is believed to be attributable the male's strong scent. The majority of the substances is somewhat concentrated on the wings rather than on the body, whereas acetoin is mainly present in the body, particularly in the thorax for both sexes. In addition, the solvent extracts were found to have large amounts of relatively low-volatile substances in which six n-alkanes, three n-alkenes, and four carboxylic acids possessing 10 to 29 carbon numbers were identified, and the major components were n-heptacosane, n-nonacosane, and hexadecanoic acid. In the extracts from individual whole 3-d-old adults, (Z)-7-tricosene and dodecanoic acid were significantly more abundant in males than in females, while (Z)-7-pentacosene and n-heptacosane were significantly more abundant in females than in males, indicating that the swallowtail adults have a sexual dimorphism in volatile composition. During the 3 d after emergence, most of the identified components averagely increased by twice the amount per adult.

Pungent odor of the adult skipper butterfly Erynnis montanus (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)

“…Moreover, sexual dimorphism has been found in CHCs of several butterfly species (Ô mura and Honda 2005;Dapporto 2007). In this study, amounts of p-cresol and docosane were significantly higher for male adults than for female adults.…”

“…The sex pheromone of the adult male cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni contains p-cresol to attract conspecific females (Heath et al 1992). Nonanoic acid is found in several danaid butterflies (Schulz et al 1993), and heptanal, nonanal, decanal, and acetic acid have been identified in Papilionidae (Honda 1980;Ô mura et al 2001;Ô mura and Honda 2005). On the other hand, this study is the first to Many insect species discharge a secretion in response to disturbance.…”

Monoenyl hydrocarbons in female body wax of the yellow peach moth as synergists of aldehyde pheromone components

“…In the swallowtail butterfly Papilio polytes, (Z)-7-tricosene, (Z)-7-pentacosene and (Z)-7-heptacosene were identified in body waxes of both male and female adults. However, the pheromonal activity of these compounds has not been investigated (Omura and Honda 2005).…”

Cuticular lipid diversification in Lasiommata megera and Lasiommata paramegaera: the influence of species, sex, and population (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

“…Recently, studies have demonstrated that butterflies are characterized by complex cuticular signatures that could convey a lot of information. Arsene, Schulz & Van Loon (2002) recognized 32 different compounds ( n -alkanes, methyl-alkanes and n -alkenes) in the epicuticle from different body parts of Pieris rapae ; Ômura & Honda (2005) identified 13 compounds ( n -alkanes, n -alkenes, and carboxylic acids) in body extracts of Papilio polytes , also demonstrating that cuticular mixture composition differs between males and females.…”