Senita cactus alkaloids: Their significance to Sonoran Desert Drosophila ecology

Abstract

The toxicity of senita cactus (Lophocereus schotti), and the alkaloids derived from it, pilocereine (I) and lophocereine (II), have been tested against Drosophila pachea and eight other species of Drosophila of the Sonoran Desert. The cactus and pilocereine kill the adults and/or progeny of all species but D. pachea. The alkaloid is probably the main reason why no other species than D. pachea breeds in the rotting stems of senita cactus. © 1967.