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Defensive steroids from a carrion beetle (Silpha novaboracensis)
J Meinwald1, B Roach, T Eisner
1Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, New York.
Journal of Chemical Ecology
|December 5, 2013
Abstract:
Two novel steroids, 3α,7β-dihydroxy-14β-pregn-4-en-15,20-dione (1) and 3α,7β, 20ξ-trihydroxy-14β-pregn-4-en-15-one (4), have been characterized from the rectal gland ofSilpha novaboracensis (Coleoptera: Silphidae). Judging from the function of comparable pregnanes in another species ofSilpha, the compounds may play an antipredator role.
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