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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #78788
Title: AXONAL COMPOSITION OF ESOPHAGEAL NERVE IN THE CORN EARWORM MOTH HELICOVERPA ZEA (BODDIE)(LEPIDOPTERA:NOCTUIDAE)

Author
item GOLUBEVA, ELENA - RUSSIAN ACADEMY SCIENCES
item RAINA, ASHOK

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Corn earworm is a serious pest of many crops including corn, cotton, tomato and soybean. Most of its behavioral and physiological activities are regulated by neurohormones produced in the part of nervous system located in the head. We wanted to determine the source of neurosecretion released into a previously little known nerve. Backfilling the nerve with cobalt chloride we could visualize several groups of cells in the brain and adjoining ganglia that send processes into this nerve. This information is important in understanding the neuroanatomy of this important pest insect. The information will also be useful to researchers studying the role of different neurohormones in regulation of various life processes of insects.

Technical Abstract: Axonal input to the esophageal nerve (EN) from brain and subesophageal ganglion was investigated in the corn earworm moth, Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), using cobalt-backfilling technique. Anterograde filling of the EN followed by silver intensification revealed axons originating from the protocerebral neurosecretory cells in groups M1 and M3, neurosecretory cells of the frontal ganglion and from maxillary and mandibular cells of the subesophageal ganglion. The EN may be acting as a potential release site for neurosecretion from these cells and should be considered as a constituent part of the retrocerebral complex in H. zea, and possibly in other species of moths.