Flashcards: Insect ecology

An ant colony, also called a formicary, is the basic family unit around which ants organize their lifecycle.

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen.

Xylophagy is a term used in ecology to describe the habits of an herbivorous animal whose diet consists primarily (often solely) of wood.

Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide antiherbivore protection.

Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils.

Poneratoxin is a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide from the bullet ant Paraponera clavata that affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels and blocks the synaptic transmission in the central nervous system.

Dimethylamine is an organic compound with the formula (CH3)2NH.

Bombykol is a pheromone released by the female silkworm moth to attract mates.

Autothysis (from the Greek roots autos- αὐτός "self" and thysia θυσία "sacrifice") is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin.

Blattellaquinone, also known as gentisyl quinone isovalerate, is a sex pheromone of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica).

Dinocampus coccinellae paralysis virus (DcPV) is a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA virus of insects, in the picorna-like virus family Iflaviridae, which was first characterised in 2015.

cis-3-Hexenal, also known as (Z)-3-hexenal and leaf aldehyde, is colorless liquid and an aroma compound with an intense grassy-green odor of freshly cut green grass and leaves.

A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy.

Cembrene A, or sometimes neocembrene, is a natural monocyclic diterpene isolated from corals of the genus Nephthea.

Carrion insects are those insects associated with decomposing remains.