The Corpus Allatum and Oogenesis in Rhodnius Prolixus (Stål.)

Abstract

In females which have been re-fed after various periods of fasting there is a delay in the resumption of ovarian growth which becomes greater with longer periods of starvation. In females kept without food for 28 days before re-feeding, vitellogenesis is not resumed until 4 or 5 days after the meal, whereas the concentration of yolk antigen in the haemolymph returns to its normal level by the third day after the meal. A period of starvation induces an accumulation of oocytes in the size range below that of activation until the fourth or fifth day after re-feeding, when the terminal oocytes pass rapidly through the critical size range and enter vitellogenesis. The tropharia of starved females exhibit a remarkably reduced affinity for the protein stain Ponceau S, and enlarged trophocytes with their characteristic inclusions are absent during the first 6 days after re-feeding.