mirasorvone

English

Etymology

After the actor Mira Sorvino, + -one.

Noun

mirasorvone (uncountable)

1. A defensive compound secreted by the sunburst diving beetle (Thermonectus marmoratus).
   • 1998 March 17, J Meinwald, “Mirasorvone: A masked 20-ketopregnane from the defensive secretion of a diving beetle (Thermonectus marmoratus)”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 95, number 6, page 2733:

     Two major volatile components of this secretion are steroids; cybisterone (structure 7) constitutes about 20% of the volatiles, and a new steroid, mirasorvone, about 50%.

   • 2005, Thomas Eisner, Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-legged Creatures:

     In one particularly beautiful dytiscid, the speckled Thermonectus marmoratus, the secretion contains two steroids, cybisterone (74) and mirasorvone (75). The former compound occurs in other dytiscids as well, but mirasorvone, an 18-oxygenated steroid, is not known from other insects.