Morphological and Functional Characterization of the Larval Hemocytes of the Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae crucivora

Abstract

Structural and functional characteristics of larval hemocytes of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae crucivora, are described. Larval hemolymph contains three types of hemocytes : prohemocytes, plasmatocytes, and granular cells with typical morphology. Prohemocytes were smooth surface, while both plasmatocytes and granular cells were characterized by cytoplasmic processes. Plasmatocytes with a combination of lamellipodia and filopodia were capable of random locomotive activity in vitro after attachment in a flattened form. Of these hemocytes, only the granular cells possessing many filopodia were able to phagocytose sheep erythrocytes artificially injected into the larval hemocoel as a foreign material. These observations of hemocytes will aid the understanding of the cellular defense reactions against foreign materials in this species.