Chemical Defenses of Arthropods

Chemical Defenses of Arthropods charts the significant progress in the study of chemical defenses in arthropods, a rapidly expanding area of chemical ecology. The book groups the defensive compounds secreted by arthropods based on their main functionalities and sequentially lists them according to their carbon numbers.
Organized into 19 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the defensive exudates of arthropods and how arthropods have exploited these compounds to deter the ubiquitous and omnipresent predators around them. The next chapters introduce the reader to the defensive compounds produced in the exocrine glands of arthropods, ranging from alcohols and ketones to hydrocarbons, carboxylic acids, esters, 1,4-quinones and hydroquinones, lactones, phenols, steroids, and proteinaceous venoms. The book also discusses the taxonomic value of arthropod defensive compounds, with emphasis on factors affecting the composition of defensive secretions and taxonomic correlations that utilize them. Later chapters focus on arthropod biosynthesis of exocrine compounds, how insects tolerate the presence of plant toxins in their diets, and identified defensive compounds in arthropods. The book concludes with an analysis of the properties and characteristic distributions of arthropod natural products, along with their adaptiveness as defensive agents.

This book is a valuable resource for biologists and chemists.

Contenu

Preface
1 The Many Faces of Defensive Secretions
I. Varied Sources of Defensive Exudates
II. Conservation of Secretion
III. Regeneration of Secretory Constituents
IV. Two-Phase Secretions
V. Minor Secretory Components
VI. Autodetoxication of Defensive Compounds
Part I The Chemistry of Defensive Secretions
Introduction
2 Hydrocarbons
An Overview
3 Alcohols
An Overview
4 Aldehydes
An Overview
5 Ketones
An Overview
6 Carboxylic Acids
An Overview
7 1,4-Quinones and Hydroquinones
An Overview
8 Esters
An Overview
9 Lactones
An Overview
10 Phenols
An Overview
11 Steroids
An Overview
12 Miscellaneous Compounds
An Overview
13 Nonexocrine Defensive Compounds of Arthropod Origin
An Overview
14 Proteinaceous Venoms
I. Scorpion Venoms
II. Spider Venoms
III. Centipede Venoms
IV. Insect Venoms
V. An Overview
Part II Chemical Defenses of Arthropods in Perspective
15 Defensive Compounds and Arthropod Taxonomy
I. Factors Affecting Composition of Defensive Secretions
II. Taxonomic Correlations Utilizing Defensive Compounds
III. The Expanding Utilization of Defensive Compounds as Diagnostic Indicators
16 Biosynthesis of Defensive Compounds
I. Biogenesis
II. Suggestive Biosynthetic Interrelationships
17 Insects and Toxic Plants
I. Detoxication or Selective Elimination of Toxic Natural Products
II. Sequestration of Plant Natural Products in Nonsecretory Structures
III. Sequestration of Plant Natural Products in Secretory Structures
IV. Relationship of Insects to Toxic Plants-An Overview
18 Recently Identified Defensive Compounds
I. Lactones
II. Quinones
III. Phenols
IV. Ketones
V. Alcohols
VI. Acids
VII. Aldehydes
VIII. Esters
IX. Hydrocarbons
X. Miscellaneous Compounds in Arthropod Secretions
XI. Steroids
XII. Nonproteinaceous Constituents in Arthropod Venoms
XIII. Nonexocrine Defensive Compounds of Arthropod Origin
19 Arthropod Defensive Compounds
I. An Overview
II. Defensive Allomones as Pheromones or Cryptic "Pheromones"
III. Modes of Action of Defensive Allomones
IV. Selected Arthropods as Natural Products Chemists Par Excellence
V. The Largely Unexplored Defensive Allomone Chemistry of the Arthropoda
References
Empirical Formula Index
Animal and Plant Index
Subject Index