Experimental studies in insect parasitism XIV. The haemocytic reaction of a caterpillar to larvae of its habitual parasite

Abstract

Although caterpillars of Ephestia kuehniella promptly encapsulate alien parasites and other foreign bodies in their haemocoele, they do not normally encapsulate larvae of their habitual parasite Nemeritis canescens, which develop unhindered and eventually destroy their host. The larva of Nemeritis does not achieve this immunity by repelling the blood cells, or by physically dislodging them. It is immune because it is able to live in the haemocoele of Ephestia without evoking a haemocytic reaction; presumably, that is, because it is not recognized as a foreign body. That ability is due to a property of its surface. So long as its surface remains unaltered, the larva, alive or dead, evokes no haemocytic reaction. When its surface is altered whether by perforation, abrasion, or chemical treatment, the living larva evokes a haemocytic reaction in Ephestia and becomes encapsulated. The protective property of its surface is acquired by the larva very late in its embryonic development, between 62 and 66 hours of age at 25 degrees C. This is about the same time as, or a little later than, the cuticle of the embryonic larva becomes impermeable to water. Four fat solvents were found to deprive the living larva of its immunity, but they may have affected the protective surface by disrupting the underlying wax layer of the epicuticle. Treatments and substances that did not affect the protective surface give some crude indications of its properties, but its ultimate characterization must be in terms of insect immunology. Observations incidental to the main theme of the paper show that the cuticle of the larva is impermeable to water; that ionic exchange takes place through the anus and wall of the rectum, where some food substances may also be absorbed from the blood of the host; and that the order of formation of the cuticulin and wax layers of the embryonic larva is the same as that in ecdysis from instar in other insects. They also provide information on the longevity of bitten supernumerary larvae.