Iridoids are cyclic monoterpenes found in plants and arthropods. In insects, they serve as sex pheromones and as defensive compounds. The first committed step in their biosynthesis is the ω-hydroxylation of geraniol. Three independently evolved P450s have been shown to catalyze this reaction, CYP6BH5 in the beetle Phaedon cochlaeriae (Fu et al., 2019), CYP6CZ1 in the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Köllner et al., 2022) and CYP6BD7 in the ant Linepithema humile (Datta et al., 2026).