Abstract
The physiological control mechanisms of calling, pheromone production, and pheromone release in female gypsy moths were investigated. No involvement of the corpora allata was found since mean pheromone emission rates from females allatectomized as larvae (14.1 ng/h) were not significantly different from sham-operated (16.4 ng/h), anaesthetized (13.1 ng/h), or untreated controls (13.1 ng/h). Neural input from the brain or other higher centres of the nervous system, however, appeared critical since females which received ventral nerve cord transection anterior to the terminal abdominal ganglion between 0 and 24 h after pupation showed significant reductions in both gland-extractable pheromone ( x = 8.7 ng) and pheromone emission rate ( x = 2.1 ng/h) compared with controls ( x = 25.0 ng and x = 13.1 ng/h, respectively). Differences in calling behaviour were also observed; in control females, the duration of ovipositor protraction was about 16.5 s and retraction about 1.3 s, in ventral nerve cord-transected females the ovipositor was maintained in a full or partially protruded state for periods longer than 300 s. Post-operative inspection of the terminal abdominal ganglion revealed fewer descending nerve branches in ventral nerve cord-transected females compared to controls.
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