Characterization of a sex pheromone in the jird (Meriones tristrami).

The Israeli jird (Meriones tristrami) is a semidesert crecitid rodent found throughout the Mid-East. Jirds use a midventral sebaceous gland to scent-mark objects, the ground, and conspecifics. Volatile compounds from the male gland extract were found to containn-aliphatic acetates by thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and mass spectroscopy. In a digital olfactometer, female jirds demonstrated preference for male glandular extract and many of then-aliphatic acetates. Other biologically important odors were also presented to the female jirds. Behavioral observations combined with olfactory bioassays implicate the involvement of the ventral sebaceous gland in jird sexual behavior.