Insect pheromones: An overview of function, form, and discovery

Yew, Joanne Y.; Chung, Henry

doi:10.1016/j.plipres.2015.06.001

Cited by 180 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 263 publications

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“…The inter‐caste communication can occur in three contexts (Grüter and Keller, ): (i) communication between queens and males during mating behaviour; (ii) communication between queens and workers that contribute to the regulation of reproduction; and (iii) communication between worker castes that regulate the number of workers performing the non‐reproductive tasks, such as, foraging, house hunting and defence. Many researches have discussed the importance of inter‐caste communication for the colony success and recent advances, such as genomics and epigenetics, aim to reveal how pheromone signals are processed in the insect brain and how internal and external stimuli induce the behavioural modification associated with changes in the gene expression patterns in the brain (Withers et al ., ; Fahrbach, ; Robinson et al ., ; Zayed and Robinson, ; Yew and Chung, ; Kamhi et al ., ).…”

Section: Social Insects' Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Information Acquisition and Processing in Decision‐Making by Individual within Insects Colonies

et al. 2018

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Insects usually present simple behaviours, but their information processing abilities result in complex collective behaviours, allowing them to perform task allocation and solve difficult problems. Biologists have invested efforts to better understand the mechanisms that govern the behaviour of social insects at the individual level and that allow the emergence of complex behaviours at the colony level. Based on biological researches, we identify the main mechanisms used to acquire different types of information and how this information is processed and used in decision‐making. We present Information Acquisition as an essential stage for Information Processing, focusing on external and internal information sources and exploring examples of information processing performed by insects. A better understanding of information processing and collective behavior in nature is the basis for the understanding of how computing is realized in insect societies, as well for new insights to develop more effective computational approaches inspired by social insects. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Social Insects' Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Information Acquisition and Processing in Decision‐Making by Individual within Insects Colonies

et al. 2018

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“…Throughout their long evolution, insects have co-opted diverse classes of chemicals such as ketones, aldehydes, and fatty acids to serve as pheromones [3]. For example, cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) originally evolved as anti-desiccants but now serve a dual role in pheromone signaling [4].…”

Section: Insect Pheromones and Associated Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The neural basis for insect pheromonal communication

McKinney

Vernier

Ben‐Shahar

2015

Current Opinion in Insect Science

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Insects rely on chemosensory signals to drive a multitude of behavioral decisions. From conspecific and mate recognition to aggression, the proper detection and processing of these chemical signals – termed pheromones – is crucial for insects’ fitness. While the identities and physiological impacts of diverse insect pheromones have been known for many years, how these important molecules are perceived and processed by the nervous system to produce evolutionarily beneficial behaviors is still mostly unknown. Here we present an overview of the current state of research into the peripheral and central nervous system mechanisms that process and drive behavioral responses to diverse pheromonal cues.

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“…This is particularly pertinent if there are multiple sympatric species using pheromones as their primary mode of communication. The specificity of the message can be achieved in a multitude of ways including variation in overall composition, the presence and composition of stereoisomers [11, 12] or the ratio of specific components all of which may lead to qualitative and quantitative differences in the signal emitted [5, 13, 14]. Even subtle changes in the pheromone blend (the specific ratios of chemicals within a pheromone) [15] or partitioning of communication channels through temporal or seasonal differences in pheromone production and emission as well as shifts in circadian activity [16–18] may result in individuals being unable to detect one another [9, 18, 19] and thus lead to speciation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lutzomyia longipalpis complex: a brief natural history of aggregation-sex pheromone communication

et al. 2016

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In this paper we review the natural history of pheromone communication and the current diversity of aggregation-sex pheromones in the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis. This species complex is the main vector of Leishmania infantum, the agent of visceral leishmaniasis in the Americas. The identification of variation in pheromone chemotypes combined with molecular and sound analyses have all contributed to our understanding of the extent of divergence among cryptic members of this complex. The importance of chemical signals as pre-mating barriers and drivers of speciation is discussed. Moreover, the importance of aggregation-sex pheromones as sexually selected signals is highlighted with evidence from the literature suggesting their potential role in species and mate recognition as well as mate assessment. The distinct evolutionary forces possibly involved are briefly reviewed and discussed in the context of this intriguing insect.

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Insect pheromones: An overview of function, form, and discovery

Cited by 180 publications

References 263 publications

The Role of Information Acquisition and Processing in Decision‐Making by Individual within Insects Colonies

The Role of Information Acquisition and Processing in Decision‐Making by Individual within Insects Colonies

The neural basis for insect pheromonal communication

The Lutzomyia longipalpis complex: a brief natural history of aggregation-sex pheromone communication

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