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Phenotypic plasticity in numbers of antennal chemoreceptors in a grasshopper: effects of food

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Abstract

Grasshoppers, Schistocerca americana, reared from hatching on artificial diet had fewer sensilla on the antennae in the final larval stage than insects reared on lettuce. This was true of basiconic and coeloconic sensilla (presumed olfactory) and trichoid sensilla (presumed gustatory). The degree of difference varied along the antenna and with sensillum type. Adding salicin to the diet restored the numbers of all types of sensillum to levels equal to, or approaching, those in lettuce-fed insects. The addition of some volatile compounds – carvone (monoterpene), chalcone (flavonoid), citral (monoterpene) and guaiacol (phenolic) – resulted in slight increases in number, but coumarin (phenylpropanoid) had no effect. None of the compounds, either singly or in combination, produced more sensilla than were present in plant-fed insects.

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Accepted: 26 January 1998

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Bernays, E., Chapman, R. Phenotypic plasticity in numbers of antennal chemoreceptors in a grasshopper: effects of food. J Comp Physiol A 183, 69–76 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003590050235

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003590050235

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