BACKGROUND Female sex pheromones attracting mating partners over long distances are a major determinant of reproductive isolation and speciation in Lepidoptera. Males can also produce sex pheromones but their study, particularly in butterflies, has received little attention. A detailed comparison of sex pheromones in male butterflies with those of female moths would reveal patterns of conservat...

Pheromones and their receptors are the molecules used by very different organisms in order to join two haploid cells. It happens evidently in yeast, since the two blending haploid cells are also the two mating organisms, whereas in rodents pheromone receptors are the triggers of the vomeronasal system which, supervising sexual behaviors, is responsible for copulation and therefore for fertiliza...

Pheromones are potent chemical signals used by animals across all phyla to control reproductive function and social behavior. Whereas there are few examples of the effects of pheromones on human behavior (fortunately?), in other species, such as laboratory mice, the effects of pheromones have been shown to be dramatic: a female mouse might abort a pregnancy if exposed to pheromones from a male ...

Imposex, male secondary sexual characteristics in female snails, is a morphological indicator of sub-lethal exposure to organotin compounds. The relation between imposex and behavioral responses to sex pheromones was studied. Responses of snails to sex specific pheromones were determined in laboratory assays. Females and males from a low imposex site and females, imposex females and males from ...

Many mammalian species rely on pheromones-semiochemicals produced by other members of the same species-to communicate social status and reproductive readiness. To assess how the central nervous system integrates the complex repertoire of pheromones, we recorded from single neurons in the accessory olfactory bulb, a nucleus that processes pheromonal signals, of male mice engaged in natural behav...

BACKGROUND The social life of animals depends on communication between individuals. Recent studies in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrate that various behaviors are influenced by social interactions. For example, courtship is a social interaction mediated by pheromonal signaling that occurs more frequently during certain times of the day than others. In adult flies, sex pheromones are synthesiz...

In polyandrous species, males seek to maximize their reproductive output by monopolizing their mate. Often the male transfers substances to the female that suppress her sexual receptivity or antagonize the behavior of competing males; both are usually transferred in seminal fluids and represent forms of chemical mate guarding. In moths, more long-range female sex pheromones have been identified...

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