Tolerating Toxins: Grasshoppers that Feast on Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids §: Chemical Education

Catherine E. Housecroft

doi:10.2533/chimia.2018.156

Tolerating Toxins: Grasshoppers that Feast on Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids §

Chemical Education

Authors

Catherine E. Housecroft Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, BPR 1096, Mattenstrasse 24a, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland. catherine.housecroft@unibas.ch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2018.156

Keywords:

Alkaloids, Chemical education, Grasshopper

Abstract

The elegant grasshopper (Zonocerus elegans) and the variegated grasshopper (Z. variegatus) are among insects that deliberately consume and store pyrrolizidine alkaloids which are subsequently used in defence mechanisms.