AXONAL COMPOSITION OF ESOPHAGEAL NERVE IN THE CORN-EARWORM MOTH, HELICOVERPA-ZEA (BODDIE) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)

Using the cobalt back-filling technique, we investigated the axonal in put to the esophageal nerve (EN) from the brain and subesophageal gang lion in the corn earworm moth, Helicoverpa tea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ). Retrograde filling of the EN followed by silver intensification rev ealed axons originating from the protocerebral neurosecretory cells in groups M1 and M3, neurosecretory cells of the frontal ganglion and fr om maxillary and mandibular cells of the subesophageal ganglion. The E N may be acting as a potential release site for neurosecretion from th ese cells and should be considered as a constituent part of the retroc erebral complex in H. tea, and possibly in other species of moths. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.