BioConcepts

pheromonePheromon (ger.)

• A chemical which is secreted and released into the environment (typically in minute amounts) by an animal, esp. a mammal or an insect, and which produces a specific physiological or behavioural response when detected by another individual of the same (or a closely related) species. (OED 2011)
  category regulation see also homoiohormone

  1959

  pheromones [...] substances which are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction, for example, a definite behaviour or a developmental process

  Karlson, P. & Lüscher, M. (1959). ‘Pheromones’: a new term for a class of biologically active substances. Nature 183, 55-56: 55.

  1982

  pheromone A chemical messenger secreted by an organism that conveys information to another individual, often eliciting a specific response; ectohormone; sociohormone.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 188.