| Title: | "Methyl acetate, a highly volatile floral semiochemical mediating specialized plant-beetle interactions" |
| Author(s): | Maia ACD; Do Amaral Ferraz Navarro DM; Nunez-Avellaneda LA; Carreno-Barrera J; Iannuzzi L; Cardona-Duque J; Nantes WAG; |
| Address: | "Department of Systematics and Ecology, Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, 58051-900, Brazil. arturmaia@gmail.com. Departament of Fundamental Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 50740-560, Brazil. Departamento de Ciencias Basicas, Programa de Biologia, Universidad de La Salle, 110231, Bogota, Colombia. Genetic Resources Center, Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC), Campinas, 13020-902, Brazil. Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 50670-901, Brazil. Grupo Biologia CES, Facultad de Ciencias y Biotecnologia, Universidad CES, 050021, Medellin, Colombia. Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias Ambientais e Sustentabilidade Agropecuaria, Universidade Catolica Dom Bosco, Campo Grande, 79117-900, Brazil" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00114-021-01731-3 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1432-1904 (Electronic) 0028-1042 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Olfactory signaling is key to the reproductive biology of entomophilous palms. Both pollinating and specialized herbivorous insects are attracted to fragrance-emitting palm inflorescences that function as reliable food sources, as well as mating and oviposition sites. In the present study, we characterized the floral scent chemistry of the acuri palm (Attalea phalerata), assessing its role in the attraction of flower-visiting insects associated with this species over its natural distribution range. We sampled insects from staminate inflorescences of A. phalerata (n = 6) at four different sites in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, and Colombian Amazon basin. Dynamic headspace scent samples of both pistillate and staminate inflorescences of A. phalerata (n = 3female symbol, 3male symbol) were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Methyl acetate, a rare floral scent compound, was identified as the almost exclusive constituent (> 99.8% relative percentage) in all the samples. Flight-interception traps baited with methyl acetate, installed in one of the sites in the Brazilian Cerrado, were attractive to beetles associated with inflorescences of A. phalerata across all four sampling sites (9 spp. in total), including the putative main pollinators (Mystrops spp., Nitidulidae; Andranthobius spp., Curculionidae) and various palm borers (Paratenthras martinsi, Cerambycidae; Parisoschoenus sp.1 and Belopoeus sp.1; Curculionidae). Methyl acetate is highly volatile and we hypothesize its efficacy relies on profuse emission by the inflorescences of A. phalerata, as specialized pollinating insects respond to high concentrations of the attractant, perhaps before odor plumes rapidly disperse. Such a strategy could prove particularly effective in dense populations of A. phalerata" |
| Keywords: | Acetates/*pharmacology Animals Arecaceae/*chemistry Brazil Coleoptera/*drug effects/physiology Flowers/*chemistry Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Pheromones/chemistry Pollination Arecaceae Cantharophily Derelomini Floral semiochemicals Mystropini Pal; |
| Notes: | "MedlineMaia, Artur Campos D do Amaral Ferraz Navarro, Daniela Maria Nunez-Avellaneda, Luis Alberto Carreno-Barrera, Javier Iannuzzi, Luciana Cardona-Duque, Juliana Nantes, Wesley Arruda Gimenes eng Germany 2021/05/03 Naturwissenschaften. 2021 May 2; 108(3):21. doi: 10.1007/s00114-021-01731-3" |
