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Gut contents in molting lepidopteran larvae: a source of error in nutritional studies
Author(s) -
Barbehenn R. V.,
Keddie A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/j.1570-7458.1992.tb00646.x
Subject(s) - library science , entomology , citation , biology , zoology , computer science
It is generally assumed that larval insects allow the gut to clear of all food prior to each molt (Waldbauer, 1968; Kogan, 1986; Ayres & MacLean, 1987). This premise has been important in the standardization of insect starting weights in growth experiments; the food in feeding larvae may account for up to 50 ~o of the dry weight of phytophagous insects (Wightman, 1981; Kogan, 1986). The only published reference that we found of a lepidopteran species which does not clear its gut during molting was Spodoptera eridania (Cram.) (Soo Hoo, 1962 in Waldbauer, 1968). The finding that Paratrytone melane Edwards larvae also consistently contain a substantial amount of food in the midgut during and following a molt (Barbehenn, 1989) prompted us to make a survey of molting lepidopteran larvae in order to generalize about the prevalence of this putatively rare phenomenon. We also present a method for estimating the correct initial dry weights (DW) of larvae of species which retain food in their guts during a molt.