EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY

Eur. J. Entomol. 94 (3): 349-360, 1997

Immunohistochemistry of the products of male accessory glands in several hemimetabolous insects and the control of their secretion in Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

SAUMAN I., SEHNAL F.

N/A

Three antibodies against secretions of the male accessory glands of Tenebrio molitor react with specific regions of the male reproductive system in a damselfly, cockroach, cricket and the bug Pyrrhocoris apterus. Immunoreactivity was used to assess maturation of the system in the reproducing and diapausing P. apterus. In bugs reared continuously at 16 h photophase and 25°C (LD regimen), antigens detected with the PL 6.3 and PL 15.2 antibodies accumulate in the accessory glands and vas deferens (in case of PL 6.3 also in the testes) gradually during the last larval instar. The PL 3.4 antibody begins to react three days after adult emergence (1 day before the males become ready to mate), and the reaction is confined to the accessory glands. Insects reared, since the 3rd larval instar, under the diapause-inducing SD conditions(10 h photophase at 25°C and 14 h scotophase at 15°C), do not exhibit any immunoreactivity throughout the last larval instar or during the first week of adult life, and only a weak reaction to PL 15.2 is detected in the older males. Immunoreactivity to PL 6.3 and PL 15.2 can be induced in the last instar SD larvae by brains implants from the LD larvae or two injections of 1 µg makisterone A.

Keywords: Reproduction, imaginal diapause, accessory glands, sexual maturation, Pyrrhocoris apterus

Accepted: March 2, 1997; Published: July 30, 1997  Show citation