Insect Metamorphosis Flashcards
Insecta
26 orders, found in all terrestrial habitats.
Major orders of insects with impacts on humans (O-CHILD)
Coleoptera (beetles), diptera (flies), hymenoptera (ants + bees), isoptera (termites), lepidoptera (butterfly) and orthoptera (crickets and roaches).
Insect anatomy
2 pairs of rudimentary wings, 3 pairs on legs, 2 antennae and compound eyes, CNS runs ventrally along with a respiratory tract.
Insect endocrine organs
Neurosecretory cells (lateral and medial), corpus cardiacum, corpus allatum and subesophageal ganglion.
What are endocrine organs linked to?
Metamorphosis.
How are endocrine organs linked to eyes?
Through optic lobes,
Neurosecretory cells
Secrete hormones into brain like the hypothalamus.
Corpus allatum
Secretes juvenile hormone.
Corpus cardiacum
Relay between corpus allatum and neurosecretory cells.
Why did insects evolve wings?
To escape new predators and disperse to new habitats.
Reasons for insect diversity (EDA)
Evolution of wings, diversification of mouth parts for feeding on plants and adaptive radiation of plants and insects.
Types of insect development (HAH)
Ametabolous, hemimetabolous and holometabolous.
Ametabolous development
Young resemble a small adult.
Hemimetabolous development
Incomplete metamorphosis with some structural change from youth to mature adult.
Holometabolous development (Whole)
Complete metamorphosis.
Tobacco Hornworm lifecycle
Lasts as an egg for 3-5 days then becomes a small larva (0.03g) for 6-9 days then becomes a medium larva (5g) after 4 days before a large larva (10g), then 5 days it becomes a pupa and then is an adult.
SIlkworm lifecycle
Egg, larvae, cocoon then adult moth, requires human assistance as they are domesticated.
Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly)- life cycle
Female + Male
-> embryo
->1st instar larva
->2nd instar larva
->3rd instar larva
->prepupa
->pupa
->then hatches
Imaginal discs
Small sacs of epithelial present in the larva of drosophila and other insects, which at metamorphosis gives rise to adult structures such as wings, legs, antennae, eyes, and genitalia.
Where did metamorphosis originate?
Coleoptera and Hemiptera in the carboniferous age.
Kopec gypsy moth ligation
Got a caterpillar ligated in last larval instar, early ligated was put into one caterpillar which caused only the anterior part to pupate while if late in instar, both parts pupate.
How does the signal for pupation travel?
Anterior to posterior with a similar critical period for dependence of metamorphosis on brain.
Wigglesworth Rhodnius transplant
First instar larva glued to head of fifth instar larva, if expose body of first instar to head of 5th, then adult molt is produced but if transplant tissue such as corpus allatum from 4th to 5th you get a 6th instar stage.
What determines quality of molt?
Corpus allatum.
What inhibits metamorphosis?
Juvenile hormone.
Corpus allatum location
Always close to corpus cardiacum.
Prothoracic gland
Produces ecdysone.
Hachlow (1931)
Lepidopteran metamorphosis requires thorax tissue.
Fukuda (1940)
Prothoracic gland required in Bombyx (genus of moth) metamorphosis.
Williams (1952)
Anterior pupa with brain and prothoracic glands triggers metamorphosis posteriorly in a chain of connected pupa with no organs.
General endocrine model of metamorphosis
- PTTH from the brain is released by the CC
- PTTH stimulates the prothoracic gland to produce Ecdysone
- E is released periodically during molting
- JH from the CA determines the type of molt
PTTH
Prothoracicotropic hormone acts on prothoracic glands to regulate ecdysteroid synthesis, it has a 224AA precursor and a 109AA functional protein.
When can the pupa form?
When juvenile hormone is low and ecdysone is high.
When is PTTH released?
Triggered by environmental stimuli such as photoperiod and temperature, nervous stimuli like stretch receptors via haemolymph in bombyx and manduca or direct gland innervation in drosophila.