| dc.description.abstract | Mostly adult Lepidoptera feed on plant nectar. That is, adults can only contribute to
carbon, and not nitrogen, acquisition. The moth Heliothis virescens were used to explore the
hypothesis that larval nutrition influences various adult carbon pools and that these, in turn, may
affect pheromone production quantitatively. H. virescens larvae were reared on diets differing in
carbohydrate, fat or protein content and resulting 5
th instars and adults were analyzed for carbon
pools, hemolymph trehalose concentration (HTC) and lipid content. Across all the diet
treatments, changes in carbohydrate content affected carbon pool the most. In particular, for
insects reared on a high carbohydrate diet, adults had a greater lipid content, while for insects
reared on a low carbohydrate diet, adults had a lower HTC, compared to insects reared on the
control or other diets. By contrast, changes in protein and fat had little effect on HTC and lipid
content of adults. | en_US |
