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Science 25 June 1976:
Vol. 192. no. 4246, pp. 1349 - 1351
DOI: 10.1126/science.1273595
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Articles

Science, Vol 192, Issue 4246, 1349-1351
Copyright © 1976 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Ant-aphid association: role of aphid alarm pheromone

LR Nault, ME Montgomery, and WS Bowers

When attacked by predators, aphids secrete alarm pheromones that cause nearby aphids to disperse. Ant-associated (myrmecophilous) aphid species disperse less readily than nonmyrmecophilous species. The ant Formica subsericea responds to aphid alarm pheromone in a way that is beneficial to the aphid. These findings support our hypothesis that myrmecophilous aphids depend more on ants for protection from predators than on their own dispersive powers.


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Specialized predation on plataspid heteropterans in a coccinellid beetle: adaptive behavior and responses of prey attended or not by ants.
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Isolation and bacterial expression of a sesquiterpene synthase cDNA clone from peppermint (Mentha x piperita, L.) that produces the aphid alarm pheromone (E)-beta -farnesene.
J. Crock, M. Wildung, and R. Croteau (1997)
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