USDA-ARS Northern Regional Research Center Peoria, 61604, Illinois.
J Chem Ecol. 1988 Apr;14(4):1153-62. doi: 10.1007/BF01019343.
Some male carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) possess massive propodeal exocrine glands that produce copious quantities of multicomponent blends of lipoidal material. Some of these compounds are volatile, producing a "flowery" aroma that can be easily detected several meters downwind from a territorial male. Chemical characterization of these secretions showed them to be blends of terpenoid compounds or fatty acid derivatives. InX. varipuncta, the mixture is composed of alltrans-geranylgeraniol, alltrans-farnesal, and an isomer of 3,7, 11-trimethyl-2,7,10-dodecatrienal in an approximate 9∶6∶1 ratio. The secretion ofX. micheneri contains isopropyl oleate, (Z)-11-eicosen-1-ol, oleyl alcohol, and methyl palmitate at approximately 63∶24∶11∶1. We hypothesize that these compounds act as pheromones that aid in attracting and holding conspecific females to symbolic nonresource encounter sites where mating occurs. They also appear to have utility as chemotaxonomic markers at the subgeneric level.
一些雄性木匠蜂（Xylocopa spp.）拥有巨大的后叶外分泌腺，能产生大量多成分的脂类物质混合物。其中一些化合物是挥发性的，产生一种“花香”的气味，在领地雄性几米远的下风处就能轻易检测到。对这些分泌物的化学特征分析表明，它们是萜类化合物或脂肪酸衍生物的混合物。在 X. varipuncta 中，混合物由全反式香叶基香叶醇、全反式法呢醛和 3,7,11-三甲基-2,7,10-十二碳三烯醛的异构体以大约 9∶6∶1 的比例组成。X. micheneri 的分泌物含有异丙烯油酸酯、（Z）-11-二十碳烯-1-醇、油醇和棕榈酸甲酯，比例约为 63∶24∶11∶1。我们假设这些化合物作为信息素，有助于吸引和保持同种雌性到符号性的非资源遭遇点，在那里发生交配。它们似乎也可用作亚属级别的化学分类标记。
