Abstract
During the final feeding stage of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, the abdominal epidermis was found to undergo a transient apolysis coincident with the first surge of ecdysone that initiates metamorphosis. During this detachment, the epidermal cells become committed to form pupal cuticle, but morphological and histological studies indicated that larval endocuticle was still being deposited. The cells reattached to the larval cuticle with the decline in ecdysone titre. Infusion of as little as 0.01 μg β-ecdysone ( ca. 2.6 ng/ml haemolymph) over an 8-hr period into larval abdomens isolated before the ecdysone surge was sufficient to initiate this detachment provided that juvenile hormone was absent.
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