Defensive Agents of Blaps femoralis, a Traditional Mongolian Medicinal Insect

Knowledge about therapy with insects in Mongolian traditional medicine is less studied even they have been used broadly since ancient time. Several orthodox practitioners have surveyed the therapeutic potentials of defensive agents in Blaps femoralis known as “stink beetle” in the past. We present results about content of defensive secretion and surface lipids, both a biologically active principle in insect, used in traditional Mongolian medicine. A combination of gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy was used for the identification of several p-benzoquinone derivatives accompanied by straight chain hydrocarbons and fatty acids. None of these compounds has been reported previously from this species. An IR imaging of insect cuticle surface shows the possibility for the analytical characterization of fatty acids in tissue at high lateral resolution of few microns.