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Firefly "femmes fatales" acquire defensive steroids (lucibufagins) from their firefly prey.

It is found that by feeding on Photinus males, Photuris females gain more than nutrients, and acquire defensive steroidal pyrones called lucibufagins, which are contained in Photinus but which photuris fireflies are unable to produce on their own.
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Sodium: a male moth's gift to its offspring.

Paternal endowment of offspring with sodium had not previously been demonstrated for an insect to the authors' knowledge, given that the foliar diet of G. septentrionis larvae is extremely low in sodium content.
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Defensive production of formic acid (80%) by a carabid beetle (Galerita lecontei).

The carabid beetle Galerita lecontei has a pair of abdominal defensive glands that secrete a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid, and lipophilic components (long-chain hydrocarbons and esters) which it aims accurately toward parts of the body subjected to assault.
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Defensive production of quinoline by a phasmid insect (Oreophoetes peruana).

The glands of O. peruana nymphs, at molting, do not extricate the shed cuticular lining of the glands, thereby managing not to lose their secretory supply when they cast their skin, and are able to discharge secretion even while still teneral after molting.
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Sodium Uptake by Puddling in a Moth

Cationic analyses showed puddling to lead to systemic sodium gain, a potential benefit to Gluphisia, whose larval food plant is low in sodium, which is transferred to the female at mating, for eventual incorporation into the eggs.
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Pinoresinol: A lignol of plant origin serving for defense in a caterpillar

Pinoresinol is shown to be a feeding deterrent to ants (Formica exsectoides), indicating that it can complement the defensive action of the primary components of the secretion, a set of previously reported lipids called mayolenes.
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Chemical basis of courtship in a beetle (Neopyrochroa flabellata): cantharidin as precopulatory "enticing" agent.

Male Neopyrochroa flabellata have a natural affinity for cantharidin (Spanish fly). They are attracted to cantharidin baits in the field and feed on the compound if it is offered to them in the…
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Mayolenes: Labile defensive lipids from the glandular hairs of a caterpillar (Pieris rapae)

In bioassays with the ant Crematogaster lineolata, the secretion of the European cabbage butterfly was shown to be potently deterrent, indicating that the fluid plays a defensive role in nature.
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Bufadienolides (lucibufagins) from an ecologically aberrant firefly (Ellychnia corrusca)

Chemical investigation of the winter firefly revealed the presence of large quantities of steroidal pyrones known as lucibufagins, and analysis of the eggs, larva, and pupa established that all immature stages possess lucibuchins, thus representing the first instance of a firefly species for which all life stages have been investigated chemically.
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Firefly Toxicosis in Lizards

African chameleons (Chamaeleo; Chamaeleonidae) appear also to be vulnerable to Photinus toxicosis, probably because of the poisonous steroidal pyrones that these fireflies contain.
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