Comprehensive analysis of warning and defense compounds of true bugs by high-performance separation methods

Insects have developed many strategies of defence against predators in the course of evolution. The evolutionarily oldest and most widely used type of defence is chemical defence, followed by acoustic or optical defence. However, many species of insects use simultaneously multiple types of warning signals, which affect different sensory receptors of the given predator. Such a complex method of warning signals is called multimodal method. It may consist of a combination of simultaneous chemical and optical signals, or a combination of acoustic and optical signalling. The combination of chemical and optical signalling used against a predator is probably the most common form of multimodal signalling. The presented work deals with the analysis of biologically active substances, which participate in the defence mechanisms of a widespread species of insects - true bugs (Heteroptera). Pterin derivatives represent a large group of natural compounds derived from pteridin, bicyclic heterocycle, and they are found in virtually all living organisms from bacteria to vertebrates. In insects, they primarily serve as pigments, resulting for example in striking coloration of cuticles of Heteroptera. The first part of the dissertation was focused on identification and quantification of pterin derivatives in cuticles..