Page 29 - Engineering in Nature

Harun Yahya

• Communication by
Pheromones
Pheromone communication is
most generally found among an-
imals that live communally, such
as bees, ants and termites. The

chemical traces may be left
wherever the insects move— on
trees, branches, leaves and fruit.
Rhagoletis cerasi Flying insects deposit traces in

the air that need to be constantly
renewed. Sex pheromones that work by means of scent form part of
this group.
Thanks to insects' small sizes and their ability to fly and move
quickly, they are able to move over wide areas—-which at first sight
might pose an obstacle to mating. This is resolved, however, by phe-
romones.
Sex pheromones allow male and female insects to find one another
by means of scent. For example, in one butterfly species of the
Lymantriidae family, the male's powerful antennae detect the attract-
ive scent given off by the rearmost part of the female's body. The male
can detect this scent from as far away as 8 km (5 miles), and any other
smell cannot mask or suppress it. Attracted by the female's scent
alone, the male finds her, and mating then takes place. 5

Another striking example of communication through pheromones
is found among cherry fruit flies (Rhagoletis cerasi). After laying its
eggs on the fruit of the cherry tree, the female fly protects them by de-
positing on the fruit a pheromone secreted by its body. Other female

Adnan Oktar
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