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Abdominal movements, heartbeats and gas exchange in pupae of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Author(s) -
Tartes Urmas,
Kuusik Aare,
Hiiesaar KÜlli,
Metspalu Luule,
Vanatoa Alo
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3032.2000.00180.x
Subject(s) - heartbeat , biology , anatomy , pulse (music) , ventilation (architecture) , materials science , physics , computer security , detector , computer science , optics , thermodynamics
Summary The rhythms of abdominal movements, heartbeats and gas exchange in the pupae of Leptiontarsa decemlineata (Say) were recorded simultaneously using an electrolytic respirometer and infrared gas analyser, both combined with contact thermography. Abdominal pulsations and heartbeat occurred periodically with little variance among individuals. The abdominal pulsations and heartbeat pauses varied individually within large limits, with the frequency of abdominal pulsations being six to seven times lower than that of the heart pulses. A proportion of the pupae (20%) showed discontinuous gas exchange with large, actively ventilated CO 2 bursts, whereas others (≈ 25%) exhibited continuous regular microcycles (flutter) with abrupt intake of air into the tracheae before discrete microbursts of carbon dioxide. The abdominal pulsations exerted only a minor influence on ventilation during the microcycles. More than 90% of the bursts of abdominal movement coincided with a series of forward directed heartbeats, but interspersed between the bouts of abdominal movement commonly two to three heartbeat pulses were observed that were not associated with abdominal movements. A period of abdominal movement associated with a heartbeat pulse was commonly initiated by one or two vigorous strokes of abdominal rotation.