The turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae Linnaeus, is a pest on cruciferous crops. Larvae sequester secondary plant compounds, namely glucosinolates, in their haemolymph. When attacked, their integument is easily disrupted and a droplet of haemolymph is exuded ('easy bleeding'). This has been shown to be an effective, chemical-based, defence against invertebrate predators. The efficiency of this propos...

When terrestrial slugs (Limax maximus) are dehydrated to 65-70% of their initial body weight (IBW) their feeding responsiveness is greatly decreased. There is a 90% decrease in feeding responsiveness when slugs are injected with hyperosmotic mannitol solution that raises the haemolymph osmolality to that of slugs dehydrated to 65-70% IBW (i.e. 200 mosmol kg-1 H2O). The duration of the Feeding M...

After treatment of the newly moulted last (5th) instar nymphs of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria with 1000.0 or 62.5 ppm of the insect growth regulators (IGRs): pyriproxyfen (juvenoid), tebofenozide (ecdysone agonist) and lufenuron (chitin synthesis inhibitor), protein content was determined in the haemolymph and fat body of nymphs and adults. An inhibitory action on haemolymph proteins...

Two conflicting hypotheses have been advanced to explain the remarkable ability of the neurones of some phytophagous insect species to function in nerve cords bathed with haemolymph containing relatively low concentrations of sodium ions. The first of these attributes the maintenance of a high extraneuronal sodium level to the activity of the glial and perineurial elements (Treherne & Maddrell,...

ecological demands interfering with oxygen delivery such as environmental hypoxia (Butler et al., 1978; Wheatly and Taylor, 1981; McMahon, 1992; Reiber et al., 1992; Airries and McMahon, 1994), air exposure (Taylor and Wheatly, 1981; Airries and McMahon, 1996) or exercise (Herreid et al., 1983; Hamilton and Houlihan, 1992; Hokkanen and DeMont, 1992; Reiber, 1994; Reiber et al., 1997) with vario...

Work in the last decade has shown that crustacean open circulatory systems are highly efficient and controlled in a complex manner. Control occurs at several levels. Myocardial contraction is initiated in the cardiac ganglion but constantly modulated by the central nervous system, both directly via the cardioregulatory nerves and indirectly via the neurohormonal system. Heart rate and stroke vo...

This study investigates (by means of bioassays and ELISA using an antibody against recombinant cHH) the variation of cHH levels in the eyestalks and haemolymph of Palaemon elegans (Decapoda, Caridea) following exposure to various stresses (heavy metals and lipopolysaccharide), and correlates them with the variation in amount and time course of blood glucose. The dose-relationship between exposu...