The Physiology of the Cuticle and of Ecdysis in Rhodnius prolixus (Triatomidae, Hemiptera); with special reference to the function of the oenocytes and of the dermal glands

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ecdysis in insects is the homologue of metamorphosis, and there can be small prospect of understanding the complex process of metamorphosis until the physiology of ecdysis has been adequately described. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that so little attention should have been paid to the histological changes which take place during the moulting of non-metabolic insects ; and the present work is an attempt to describe certain of these changes in the blood-sucking bug, Rhodnius prolixus.