Wabnitz, PA; Bowie, JH; Tyler, MJ; Wallace, JC; Smith, BP

Nature, vol. 401, no. 6752, pp. 444-445, 30 Sep 1999

Many creatures use chemical signals (pheromones) as sources of information about the world around them. For example, a sex pheromone produced by one sex (usually the female) of a particular species induces an immediate behavioural response in the opposite sex of the same species. However, very little is known about amphibian pheromones. We have now discovered and characterized an aquatic, female-attracting pheromone from the paratoid and rostral glands of a male frog, the magnificent tree frog, Litoria splendida. To our knowledge, this pheromone, which we have named splendipherin, is the first pheromone from an anuran (frog or toad) to be identified. The skin glands of anurans secrete defence compounds, including many types of biologically active peptides. For example, L. splendida exudes several biologically active peptides from the parotoid and rostral glands (situated at the rear and front of the head, respectively), including the broad-spectrum antimicrobial caerin-1 peptides. However, no anuran pheromones have been reported, apart from a possible alarm pheromone in tadpoles of the toad Bufo bufo.