Pheromones

Aggregation- and sexual pheromones are important for intraspecific communication of insects and other arthropods. We study pheromones in those groups, which have been widely neglected so far. For instance, in beetles the structures of pheromones have been clarified only for less than 1 % of all Central European species. Recently, we identified the first pheromones in the order Strepsiptera.

Our goal is to gain an improved insight into the evolution of pheromones and their role for speciation. In addition, pheromones can be used as important characters to identify cryptic species and within the framework of an integrative taxonomy.