Pygidial gland secretions of Carabus Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Carabidae): chemicals released by three species

Vesović, Nikola; Ćurčić, Srećko; Todosijević, Marina; Nenadić, Marija; Zhang, Wang; Vujisić, Ljubodrag

doi:10.1007/s00049-019-00298-w

Cited by 7 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Namely, it was detected in the defensive secretions of Calosoma (Calosoma) sycophanta (Linnaeus, 1758) and a few Carabus taxa. This chemical is considered a minor constituent of the secretions of Carabus spp., in contrast with the secretions of Calosoma spp., where a slightly higher percentage was recorded (Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2017Vesović et al, , 2020. The relative percentage of benzoic acid in C. (C.) maderae is in line with the previous statement, whilst its abundance in C. (L.) clathratus was greater than expected.…”

Section: Chemical Surveysupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In addition, when present, the acids were most often detected in small or even minor amounts. Most of those records are reported in relatively recent studies (Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2020Vesović et al, , 2022 ) violaceus] were previously analysed in terms of chemical ecology, none of these three acids was detected (Schildknecht and Weis, 1962;Schildknecht et al, 1964;Casnati et al, 1965). The same can be noted for benzoic acid, which was not detected in initial investigations, but was found in more recent studies (Schildknecht et al, 1964;Casnati et al, 1965;Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2017Vesović et al, , 2020.…”

Section: Chemical Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these acids do not seem to be widely distributed within Carabini. To date, their presence has only been reported in several Carabini taxa (Kanehisa and Kawazu, 1982;Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2020Vesović et al, , 2022. In addition, when present, the acids were most often detected in small or even minor amounts.…”

Section: Chemical Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recorded percentage variation of methacrylic acid is considered usual in the defensive secretions of ground beetles. Within Carabini, methacrylic acid is by far the most abundant compound (Schildknecht et al, 1964(Schildknecht et al, , 1968Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2017Vesović et al, , 2020Vesović et al, , 2022. Tiglic acid is typically present along with methacrylic acid in the pygidial gland secretions of ground beetles (Giglio et al, 2021).…”

Section: Chemical Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is fairly common for tiglic acid to be more abundant than angelic acid. The opposite case has been found to occur only in three taxa of Carabini [Carabus (Chaetocarabus) intricatus Linnaeus, 1760, C. (C.) ulrichii rhilensis and C. (Megodontus) violaceus Linnaeus, 1758] ( Lečić et al, 2014;Vesović et al, 2020Vesović et al, , 2022.…”

Section: Chemical Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The chemical composition of the secretions, their antibacterial activity, and the pygidial gland morphology of selected European Carabini ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

et al. 2023

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The pygidial glands of carabids produce strong-smelling vapours. In this study, we examined the chemical composition of the gland secretions and the structure of the glands in five species of Carabini ground beetles (one species from the subtribe Calosomatina and four species from the subtribe Carabina): Calosoma (Calosoma) maderae (Fabricius, 1775), Carabus (Carabus) granulatus Linnaeus, 1758, C. (Limnocarabus) clathratus Linnaeus, 1760, C. (Carabus) ulrichii Germar, 1823, and C. (Procerus) gigas Creutzer, 1799. Additionally, we tested the antibacterial potential of the pygidial gland secretions of the two latter species against 11 bacterial strains. In order to detect the chemical content of the secretions, we used gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The secretion extracts were applied against selected strains of medically important bacteria. We used bright-field microscopy to examine the morphology of the glands. We discovered a total of 11 chemical compounds in the pygidial gland extracts of the ground beetles we analysed. Ten of these compounds were identified as seven carboxylic acids, two hydrocarbons, and one aromatic aldehyde, while one chemical remained unidentified. Most of the components were isolated from the secretion of C. (L.) clathratus (nine), while the lowest number of compounds was found in C. (P.) gigas (two). Methacrylic acid was the most dominant compound by percentage in all five species, while angelic acid was also detected in all samples. As expected, salicylaldehyde was exclusively found in the species of the genus Calosoma Weber, 1801. The secretion of C. (P.) gigas was shown to achieve the highest level of antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica, and S. typhimurium (even the same level as the positive control streptomycin), while the secretion of C. (C.) ulrichii achieved the highest antimicrobial potential against Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus. The most noticeable difference in the structure of the glands between the two genera is that the reservoir in Calosoma is more significantly narrowed as it leads into the efferent duct, compared to that of Carabus.

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Section: Chemical Surveysupporting

confidence: 90%