Hydroquinone In Eleodes hispilabris

[Stag Beetles]

I just had an amazing experience. My Eleodes hispilabris, for the first time, produced its foul smelling hydroquinones. Is this a different kind of hydroquinone than the one commonly used to make products? Strangely, I thought it smelled sort of..nice, like mushrooms, but a stronger odor...

 

[Anacimas]

I just had an amazing experience. My Eleodes hispilabris, for the first time, produced its foul smelling hydroquinones. Is this a different kind of hydroquinone than the one commonly used to make products? Strangely, I thought it smelled sort of..nice, like mushrooms, but a stronger odor...

Not all hydroquinones smell foul to us. Dimethyl hydroquinone, for example, has a sweet, fruity aroma and is often employed as an ingredient in perfumery.

 

[Stag Beetles]

Ok, thanks, Anacimas!

 

[AlexW]

Many defensive insect chemicals smell good to humans. I have grown fond of the smell-bomb of Zophobas morio, which contains both sweet (like ripe dates) and bitter components. Ladybeetle bombs also smell like cut tomato foliage.

I've even met two hemipterans with "pure" fruit smells; one smelled strongly of artificial cherry syrup and one smelled almost (not exactly) like real peaches.

 

[Anacimas]

Many defensive insect chemicals smell good to humans. ...

Indeed, human-perceived odor can be extremely deceptive! To cite just two examples, in rarefied amounts hydrogen cyanide smells like bitter almonds and phosgene like freshly cut hay.

 

[AlexW]

I believe that this is because bitter almonds contain small amounts of hydrogen cyanide.

(Did I mention the almond-scented cyanide millipedes?

)