Applied Entomology and Zoology (1999) 34, 171-177

K. Itoyama, S. Morooka and S. Tojo (1999)
Triacylglycerol storage in the adults of two selected strains of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens
Applied Entomology and Zoology 34 (1), 171-177
Abstract: In the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, triacylglycerol (TG) content and its fatty acid composition were analysed by GLC and compared during three days after the final moult. This analysis compared long and short-winged morphs, which were derived from predominantly macropterous and brachypterous strains, and allowed to feed but not mate. For both sexes, the levels of TG on a dry weight basis in the long-wing form were 1.6 times higher shortly after adult eclosion for both sexes than those in the short-wing form. The ratios of TG content between the two wing-morphs increased to 2.8 times for females and 3.7 times for males two days after eclosion, the stage estimated to be the most adapted to migration. Thus the macropters apparently store considerably more fuels for flight than the brachypters. In female macropters, TG per dry weight decreased slightly during the pre-feeding period but returned to the initial level two to three days later due to feeding, possibly providing energy for migration. In contrast, TG level per dry weight in brachypters continuously declined, maintaining TG content per inividual with gradual weight gain during this period, suggesting the storage of materials other than TG by feeding for ovarian development. In males, TG level declined more in brachypters than in macropters, possibly reflecting greater adaption for copulation in the former and migration in the latter. Fatty acid compositions of TG were essentially the same for both morphs and also both sexes at the time of adult emergence, but the composition in brachypterous males changed greatly after one to two days of adult life.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Sumio Tojo

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Nilaparvata lugens		Japan