Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 12 | Article 56 Tan and Nishida Methyl eugenol: Its occurrence, distribution, and role in nature, especially in relation to insect behavior and pollination Keng Hong Tan1a* and Ritsuo Nishida2b 1Tan Hak Heng, 20, Jalan Tan Jit Seng, 11200 Penang, Malaysia 2Laboratory of Chemical Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan Abstract This review discusses the occurrence and distribution (within a plant) of methyl eugenol in different plant species (> 450) from 80 families spanning many plant orders, as well as various roles this chemical plays in nature, especially in the interactions between tephritid fruit flies and plants. Keywords: allomone, attractant, Bactrocera, chemical ecology, floral fragrance, insect pollinators, plant–insect interactions, plant semiochemicals, sex pheromone, synomone, tephritid fruit flies Abbreviations: ME, methyl eugenol; RK, raspberry ketone Correspondence: a
[email protected], b
[email protected], *Corresponding author Editor: Todd Shelly was editor of this paper. Received: 28 April 2011, Accepted: 27 August 2011 Copyright : This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed. ISSN: 1536-2442 | Vol. 12, Number 56 Cite this paper as: Tan KH, Nishida R. 2012. Methyl eugenol: Its occurrence, distribution, and role in nature, especially in relation to insect behavior and pollination. Journal of Insect Science 12:56 available online: insectscience.org/12.56 Journal of Insect Science | www.insectscience.org 1 Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 12 | Article 56 Tan and Nishida 1. Introduction ME has been successfully used in: a) fruit fly surveys (Tan and Lee 1982) and quarantine Plants produce a huge array of chemicals, detection (see reviews by Metcalf and Metcalf numbering tens of thousands, primarily for 1992; Vargas et al.