From Spinning Silk to Spreading Saliva: Mouthpart Remodeling in Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Perception of change in depth in the hummingbird hawkmoth Manduca sexta (Sphingidae, Lepidoptera)

Visual perception of depth change can be mediated monocularly by looming the apparent size increase of an approaching object. In Manduca sexta we recorded intracellularly from cells that detect both approach and retreat of an object. The cells compute looming in two fundamentally di!erent ways: class 1 neurons measure the change of perimeter/edge length of the object; class 2 neurons respond to...

The Juvenile Hormone Binding Protein in the Hemolymph of Manduca sexta Johannson (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae).

C(18):juvenile hormone is quite soluble in water, yielding a monomeric solution greater than 10(-5) M. In vivo injection or addition of aqueous juvenile hormone to the hemolymph in vitro shows the complexation of juvenile hormone to a protein, as demonstrated by gel permeation chromatography and disc-gel electrophoresis. The protein has an apparent molecular weight of 3.4 x 10(4) and is present...

The Effect of Larval Diet and Sex on Nectar Nicotine Feeding Preferences in Manduca Sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Heartbeat reversal after sectioning the dorsal vessel and removal of the brain of diapausing pupae of Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Reversal of heartbeat was monitored in vivo by noninvasive, multisensor, thermo-cardiographic and pulse-light, optocardiographic techniques. The dorsal vessel was sectioned at the beginning, in the middle and near the end of the abdomen. Changes in the heartbeat were simultaneously monitored in both the disconnected anterior and posterior sections of the heart. The results revealed the existenc...

Molecular interactions between the specialist herbivore Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) and its natural host Nicotiana attenuata. II. Accumulation of plant mRNAs in response to insect-derived cues.

The transcriptional changes in Nicotiana attenuata Torr. ex Wats. elicited by attack from Manduca sexta larvae were previously characterized by mRNA differential display (D. Hermsmeier, U. Schittko, I.T. Baldwin [2001] Plant Physiol 125: 683-700). Because herbivore attack causes wounding, we disentangled wound-induced changes from those elicited by M. sexta oral secretions and regurgitant (R) w...