ROLE OF BRAIN, VENTRAL NERVE CORD, AND CORPORA CARDIACA CORPORA ALLATA COMPLEX IN THE REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR OF FEMALE TOBACCO BUDWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)
Yi. Park et Sb. Ramaswamy, ROLE OF BRAIN, VENTRAL NERVE CORD, AND CORPORA CARDIACA CORPORA ALLATA COMPLEX IN THE REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR OF FEMALE TOBACCO BUDWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE), Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 91(3), 1998, pp. 329-334
Various surgical treatments were used to determine the role of the bra
in, ventral nerve cord (VNC), and corpora cardiaca-corpora allata comp
lex in the reproductive behavior of Heliothis virescens (F.). VNC-tran
sected females mated successfully and exhibited increased egg producti
on after mating, suggesting that an intact VNC is not required for cal
ling, sex pheromone emission, mating, or mating-induced oogenesis. The
patterns of increase in egg production in decapitated, virgin females
and mated, decapitated females were similar. Allatectomized females c
alled less overall than did the others, but all females called and wer
e able to mate with males. The allatectomized, virgin females produced
<20 eggs in total, whereas allatectomized females mated to normal mal
es produced approximate to 90 eggs. Mated females decapitated immediat
ely after uncoupling produced nearly 3 times as many eggs as decapitat
ed, virgin females. Females decapitated at 6 h after uncoupling showed
a further significant stimulation in egg maturation. These findings s
uggest that the male transfers some factor that, by itself, stimulates
oogenesis.