2021 Field Trails: Ready & Waiting

Well it has certainly been a while since I have posted anything here. Irrespective of this, much Apatura science has continued in the background and after 6 years of quite intensive science and investigation, I think we are finally ready to go live with Apatura attraction field trails next summer. I have now analysed Limburger and Pálpusztai cheeses, as well as Belachan and Shito pastes. I have also re-analysed Matthew and Niel’s Pantainorasingh plus Monika tiny shrimp mixture all by Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) Gas-Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The volatile analysis has identified one compound that is consistently present in all of these samples. The relative peaks relevant to this compound have been high-lighted with an anterisk (*). In addition to being found in these samples, the compound in question has also been confirmed to be present in all other known Apatura attractants inclusive of Dung (predominantly carnivore), Carcasses, Human skin volatiles, Cigarette smoke and Petrol fumes. The appropriate compound can also easily be explained in relation to the attraction of Apatura specimens which have been photographed clustered around the remains of a dead Rana frog. As predicted, the compound in question is a degradation product of a Branched Chain Amino Acid (BCAA), which have been confirmed to be readily incorporated into the male specific centrally methylated pheromone compound. As such, the males are being directly attracted to the site(s) of what they specifically need in order to produce their male specific pheromone. All I need to do now however is to wait until next summer in order to perform the field trials. It is going to be a long winter.