Pheromones are chemical signals that elicit innate and stereotyped responses in conspecifics, often with intricate species specificity. The remarkable diversity of pheromones has made them particularly useful for studying the physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying communication. However, most discussions on pheromone evolution focus on divergence among species and give little attention to the processes underlying overlap or cross-reaction among species. Here, we review the evolution of pheromones with particular emphasis on the processes that yield pheromones that are not species specific. Although costly interactions with heterospecifics exert selection for pheromone divergence, species isolation via other chemical or multi-modal cues and temporal or spatial barriers can alleviate selection for species specificity. Likewise, common aspects of animals’ evolutionary history, physiology, and ecology can yield convergent, homologous, or otherwise cross-reacting pheromones. We hope that our review stimulates continued research on pheromone species specificity, which has implications for understanding their identity, function, and evolution, and predicting the ecological consequences of changing environments.

中文翻译：

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（非）物种特异性信息素的进化

信息素是在同种中引发先天和刻板反应的化学信号，通常具有复杂的物种特异性。信息素的显着多样性使它们对于研究通信的生理和进化机制特别有用。然而，大多数关于信息素进化的讨论都集中在物种之间的差异上，而很少关注物种之间重叠或交叉反应的潜在过程。在这里，我们回顾了信息素的进化，特别强调产生非物种特异性信息素的过程。尽管与异种特异性的昂贵相互作用对信息素发散进行选择，但通过其他化学或多模式线索以及时间或空间障碍进行的物种隔离可以减轻对物种特异性的选择。同样地，动物进化史、生理学和生态学的共同方面可以产生趋同、同源或其他交叉反应的信息素。我们希望我们的评论刺激对信息素物种特异性的持续研究，这对理解它们的身份、功能和进化以及预测不断变化的环境的生态后果具有重要意义。