Females of two click beetle species, Cardiophorus tenebrosus and C. edwardsi (Coleoptera: Elateridae), produce methyl (3R,6E)-2,3-dihydrofarnesoate as their sex pheromone. We had serendipitously discovered that males of both species were also strongly attracted to (R)-fuscumol acetate ((E)-6,10-dimethylundeca-5,9-dien-2-yl acetate), a known longhorned beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) pheromone, due to its structural similarities to the click beetle pheromone. To further investigate the specificity of the responses of Cardiophorus males, additional analogs with different chain lengths and structural relationships compared to the natural pheromone were synthesized and tested. In field and electroantennogram bioassays, only fuscumol propionate ((E)-6,10-dimethylundeca-5,9-dien-2-yl propionate) elicited strong responses from Cardiophorus males, indicating that they were able to distinguish chain length and spatial relationships between the structural elements. In field trials, C. tenebrosus males were attracted equally to the analog and their natural pheromone, but the pheromone elicited stronger antennal responses from males. In contrast, traps baited with fuscumol propionate caught approximately 26 times as many C. edwardsi males compared to traps baited with the natural pheromone, although the analog elicited significantly smaller antennal responses from C. edwardsi males. Thus, in terms of behavioral responses, fuscumol propionate appears to be acting as a hyperactive pheromone mimic, a phenomenon which has rarely been observed in insect semiochemistry.

两种单击甲虫物种的雌性，如Cardiophorus tenebrosus和C. edwardsi（鞘翅目：Elateridae）产生性信息素（3 R，6 E）-2,3-二氢法尼辛酸甲酯。我们偶然发现了这两个物种的雄性也强烈吸引了已知的长角甲虫（R）-富马酚乙酸酯（（E）-6,10-二甲基undeca-5,9-dien-2-yl乙酸酯）。 Cerambycidae）信息素，由于其结构与点击甲虫信息素相似。进一步研究心脏电反应的特异性合成并测试了雄性，与天然信息素相比具有不同链长和结构关系的其他类似物。在字段和触角电位生物测定，仅fuscumol丙酸酯（（Ë）-6,10- dimethylundeca -5,9-二烯-2-基丙酸酯）从引发强烈反应Cardiophorus男性，表明它们能够区分链长度和空间关系在结构元素之间。在田间试验中，类似虫及其天然信息素同样吸引了弓形虫男性，但该信息素引起了男性较强的触角反应。相比之下，用富马酸丙二醇酯诱集的诱捕器捕捞的爱德华梭菌约是其的26倍。雄性与诱捕天然信息素的诱捕器相比，尽管类似物引起了爱德华梭菌雄性的触角反应明显较小。因此，就行为反应而言，丙酸富马酚似乎是一种过度活跃的信息素模拟物，这种现象在昆虫符号化学中很少见到。