What does an osmeterium smell like? Does the smell differ between species?

Ask an Entomologist

After our initial launch, we had a number of people submit questions. One of the first, from Antnommer on Twitter, I found particularly interesting because it aligns with my interest in biochemistry.

@SciBugs@BioInFocus@BugQuestions What does an osmeterium smell like? Does the smell differ between species?

— Antnommer (@Antnommer) December 14, 2014

To answer this question, I think I need to split it into 3 parts:

1.) What is an osmeterium?

2.) What does it smell like, and does the smell differ between species?

3.) What chemicals give the osmeterium it’s characteristic odor?

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