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Review
. 2025 Apr;25(4):e202400140.
doi: 10.1002/tcr.202400140. Epub 2024 Nov 19.

A Comprehensive Survey of Stink Bug Pheromones - Extraction, Identification, Synthesis, Biosynthesis, and Phylogenetic Insights

João P A Souza  1 , Isaac R Jorge  1 , Aluska T Dos Santos  1 , Leonardo Figueiredo  1 , Brunno B Rosa  2   3 , Andressa Paladini  4 , Paulo H G Zarbin  1
Affiliations
Review

A Comprehensive Survey of Stink Bug Pheromones - Extraction, Identification, Synthesis, Biosynthesis, and Phylogenetic Insights

João P A Souza et al. Chem Rec. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Stink bugs (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae) are well known by the strong odor of the defensive compounds they release, which can mediate intra- and/or interspecific interactions. Pentatomidae is one of the largest families of Heteroptera and includes many phytophagous species that are considered pests of various crops, as well as predatory species that provide biological control. Against this background, numerous research papers in Chemical Ecology have focused on communication within this group. This paper reviews the chemical compounds reported for nearly ninety taxa, including sex and aggregation pheromones for fifty-three species of Pentatomidae. Based on these pheromones and proposed biosynthesis pathways, we hypothesize that sex/aggregation pheromones could play a role in taxonomic groups. Characters were determined and evaluated according to their distributions in recent taxonomic classifications, allowing for the inference of the phylogenetic positioning of three species never evaluated in previous taxonomic analyses.

Keywords: Chemical Ecology; Hemiptera; Heteroptera; Pentatomidae; Semiochemical.

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