Juvenile hormone (JH) plays important roles in almost every aspect of insect development and reproduction. JHs are a group of acyclic sesquiterpenoids, and their farnesol backbone has been chemically modified to generate a homologous series of hormones in some insect lineages. JH III (methyl farnesoate, 10,11-epoxide) is the most common JH in insects, but Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and ‘higher’ Diptera (suborder: Brachycera; flies) have developed their own unique JHs. Although JH was first proposed in the hemipteran suborder Heteroptera (true bugs), the chemical identity of the heteropteran JH was only recently determined. Furthermore, recent studies revealed the presence of a novel JH, JH III skipped bisepoxide (JHSB₃), in some heteropterans, but its taxonomic distribution remains largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated JHSB₃ production in 31 heteropteran species, covering almost all heteropteran lineages, through ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. We found that all of the focal species produced JHSB₃, indicating that JHSB₃ is widespread in heteropteran bugs and the evolutionary occurrence of JHSB₃ ascends to the common ancestor of Heteroptera.

保幼激素（JH）在昆虫发育和繁殖的几乎各个方面都发挥着重要作用。 JH 是一组无环倍半萜类化合物，其金合欢醇骨架经过化学修饰，可在某些昆虫谱系中产生一系列同源激素。 JH III（法尼索酸甲酯，10,11-环氧化物）是昆虫中最常见的 JH，但鳞翅目（蝴蝶和飞蛾）和“高等”双翅目（亚目：短角亚目；苍蝇）已发展出自己独特的 JH。尽管 JH 最初是在半翅目异翅亚目（真虫）中提出的，但异翅目 JH 的化学特性直到最近才被确定。此外，最近的研究揭示了一些异翅目中存在一种新的 JH，JH III 跳跃双环氧化物（JHSB ₃ ），但其分类学分布仍然很大程度上未知。在本研究中，我们通过超高效液相色谱与串联质谱联用研究了 31 个杂翅目物种（涵盖几乎所有杂翅目谱系）中 JHSB _{3 的}产生。我们发现所有焦点物种都产生JHSB ₃ ，这表明JHSB ₃在异翅目昆虫中广泛存在，并且JHSB ₃的进化发生上升到异翅目的共同祖先。