How Powerful are Pheromones?
It depends on who you ask.
If bees or ants-or any one of more than 1500 species of insects-could talk, they’d tell you that the chemical message of pheromones is absolutely irresistible. Insects do exactly what the scent signal tells them to, because, in insects, pheromones are the sole basis for many kinds of social behavior.
For instance, worker bees are powerless against the pheromones of queen bees. Ants follow each other, single file, to food sources because they’re following a chemical trail laid by another ant. Some flying insects-moths, beetles, and flies-use pheromones to keep other insects away when laying their eggs so their offspring have less competition for scarce resources. They can signal alarm among aphids, and honeybees use pheromones to incite their nest mates to attack intruders. Male moths attract females with pheromones. One researcher who spilled male moth pheromones on his clothing had to beat the female moths off with a stick, so to speak.
Small amounts of pheromones can be extremely effective in insects. For instance, thirty molecules can trigger a response-in other cockroaches. And one female sawfly in a cage attracted more than 2,000 males a day. Insect pheromones are so powerful […]

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