Effects of the non-steroidal ecdysteroid mimic tebufenozide on the tomato looper Chrysodeixis chalcites (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): An ultrastructural analysis
✍ Scribed by Guy Smagghe; Elisa Viñuela; Flor Budia; Danny Degheele
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 303 KB
- Volume
- 35
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0739-4462
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Oral treatment indicated that the substituted dibenzoylhydrazine tebufenozide is a potent nonsteroidal agonist of ecdysteroids when tested on last instar larvae of the tomato looper Chrysodeixis chalcites. Treated larvae showed characteristic signs of precocious moulting within 12 h of treatment, leading to head capsule apolysis and cessation of feeding. Electron microscopic analysis of treated integument revealed a forced, untimely synthesis of a new (epi)cuticle via epidermal cell activation; however, normal procuticle secretion was interrupted since the large number of procuticular lamellae that normally appear in controls was conspicuously absent. Further, phenotypic changes of endocrine gland ultrastructure and that of the foregut epithelium and muscle organization were also observed.