ABSTRACT
Cuticular hydrocarbons provide insects with the chemical equivalent of the visually variable colored plumage of birds. These waxes occur predominantly near the surface of the insect integument, which is a bipartite organ composed of a monolaminar cellular epidermis and the non-cellular cuticle. Cuticular hydrocarbons provide insects with the chemical equivalent of the visually variable colored plumage of birds. The insect cuticle is a heterogenous membranous outer skin composed of several morphologically distinguishable layers. The lipid-rich surface of the cuticle plays an essential role as an anti-desiccatory barrier for a class of animals that in some cases occupies some of the driest terrestrial ecological niches. Chemical communication based on cuticular hydrocarbons without apparent glandular origin is a frequent phenomenon among the eusocial termites, bees, wasps, and ants. The hydrocarbons utilized by insects to recognize con- and heterospecifics are also employed by humans using chemical instrumentation to differentiate insect species.
