Meeting Abstract

12.1  Jan. 4  The role of cuticular hydrocarbons associated with mate recognition in Palaemonetes pugio CASKEY, J. L.*; HASENSTEIN, K. H.; BAUER, R. T.; Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette; Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette; Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette shrimpgirl@louisiana.edu

In the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio, behavioral evidence suggests that males respond to an insoluble substance (i.e. contact sex pheromone) on the exoskeleton of the postmolt parturial female. Cuticular hydrocarbons, glycoproteins or other compounds present on the surface of the newly-molted, parturial female might serve as the sex attractant. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the exoskeleton of postmolt parturial females contains cuticular hydrocarbons that function as contact sex pheromones. Extractions of postmolt parturial females showed the greatest number of peaks, 29, 13 of which were unique. Of these 13 unique peaks, we were able to identify one as anisole 2,3,4,5,6 pentachloro and one as 1-octadecene. Various hydrocarbons (tricosane, tetracosane, pentacosane, hexacosane, nonacosane) were found among the treatment groups. We also found the cuticular extracts of the treatments to contain the fatty acids hexadecanoic acid and octadecanoic acid. Postmolt parturial females differed significantly from all treatments supporting our hypothesis that postmolt parturial females employ a chemical to communicate their sexually receptive condition to males. We did not conclusively identify a single contact sex pheromone of P. pugio; however, it is likely a blend of hydrocarbons or their derivatives and not a single component.