Abstract
Oviposition behavior by females of a Rutaceae-feeding swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus, was stimulated by contact with methanolic extracts of the leaves of Citrus unshiu. The stimulant compounds, active as a complex mixture, were characterized as vicenin-2, narirutin, hesperidin, rutin, adenosine, 5-hydroxy-Nω-methyltryptamine, bufotenine, (-)-synephrine, (+)-chiro-inositol and (-)-stachydrine. These 10 components, mixed in the proportions found in the host-plant leaves, were shown to account for the activity of C. unshiu extracts to P. xuthus females.
