PRESENCE OF THE TRAIL-PHEROMONE PRECURSOR CANDIDATES IN THE TERMITE, COPTOTERMES-FORMOSANUS SHIRAKI (ISOPTERA, RHINOTERMITIDAE)

On the basis of recent results showing that trail-pheromone precursors existed in Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe), Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki was examined for the presence of similar substances. Whole body n-hexane extracts from 300,000 worker termites of C formosanus were fractionated by silica-gel column chromatography. Trail-following activities were measured before and after the hydrolyses of the fractions with KOH/MeOH. Bioassay showed that the activities of hydrolyzed products were approximately 20 times more than those of original hexane extracts. Chemical analyses revealed that the complete structures of the hydrolyzed products was coincided with that of the native pheromone, (Z,Z,E)-3,6,8-dodecatrien-1-ol. As the trail pheromone was collected by alkaline hydrolyses of these different fractions, it was probable that the precursor candidates were stored in C formosanus termite bodies in esterified forms.