Melyrid beetles ( <i>Choresine</i> ): A putative source for the batrachotoxin alkaloids found in poison-dart frogs and toxic passerine birds
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- John P. Dumbacher
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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- Avit Wako
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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- Scott R. Derrickson
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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- Allan Samuelson
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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- Thomas F. Spande
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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- John W. Daly
- Smithsonian Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, VA 22630; Department of Birds and Mammals, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94103; Herowana Village, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea; Entomology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI 96813; and Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892
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説明
<jats:p> Batrachotoxins are neurotoxic steroidal alkaloids first isolated from a Colombian poison-dart frog and later found in certain passerine birds of New Guinea. Neither vertebrate group is thought to produce the toxins <jats:italic>de novo</jats:italic> , but instead they likely sequester them from dietary sources. Here we describe the presence of high levels of batrachotoxins in a little-studied group of beetles, genus <jats:italic>Choresine</jats:italic> (family Melyridae). These small beetles and their high toxin concentrations suggest that they might provide a toxin source for the New Guinea birds. Stomach content analyses of <jats:italic>Pitohui</jats:italic> birds revealed <jats:italic>Choresine</jats:italic> beetles in the diet, as well as numerous other small beetles and arthropods. The family Melyridae is cosmopolitan, and relatives in Colombian rain forests of South America could be the source of the batrachotoxins found in the highly toxic <jats:italic>Phyllobates</jats:italic> frogs of that region. </jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101 (45), 15857-15860, 2004-11
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences