Insect Communication: Chemical Signals and Pheromones

In insect, if one individual gives off any signal that produces a change in the behavior of another individual, that signal will be considered to have been a communication. The present chapter provides a basic summary of the different types of communication based on receptors that are involved in receiving the stimuli in insects such as chemical, tactile, acoustical, and visual signals. Chemical communication which includes semiochemicals and their types (pheromones and allelochemicals) were explored deeper here with many examples. Allelochemicals are produced by individuals of one species, modify the behavior of individuals of a different species (i.e. an interspecific effect). Allelochemicals include different informative molecules such as: allomones, kairomones, synomones, antimones and apneumones. Pheromones represent an intraspecific communication amidst members of the same species and are of two types according to their mode of influence namely primer and releaser pheromone. Based on the role played by releaser pheromone, they are further categorized as aggregation, alarm, funeral, recruitment, recognition, royal, sex, spacing, territorial (home-range) and trail pheromones.