Imaging densitometry of honeydew samples with Densitometric Research Operating Program (DROP)

Abstract

The amount of excreta from sap-feeding insects is linked to the differences in ingestion volumes, and it provides valuable information such as the presence of feeding stimulants and deterrents in their diets. In this work, we introduce a newly developed program source code named DROP and use it to produce imaging densitometric analyses of the insect excreta. Our method is straightforward, rapid, has high sensitivity, and is sufficiently accurate, and therefore is applicable to many sap-feeding insects. The DROP and the sample images are freely available on the website https://sites.google.com/view/tsuchida-lab-drop.