Hyperphagia in the Blowfly*

Abstract

The current view of the control feeding in the blowfly Phormia regina Meigen holds that ingestion is initiated by stimulation of oral taste receptors and ultimately terminated by signals from the foregut (Dethier & Bodenstein, 1958). The signals from the foregut originate in stretch receptors which monitor the passage of food from the crop to the mid-gut (Gelperin, 1966b). The recurrent nerve conveys these signals to the brain where they counteract input from peripheral taste receptors. Transection of the recurrent nerve interferes with this inhibitory feed-back system and causes a fly to become hyperphagic (Dethier & Bodenstein, 1958).