Summary
A restrained, whole animal preparation was used to study chemical sensitivity and specificity of three cells in the medial galeal chemosensillum of adult red turnip beetles. One cell is sensitive to sugars, particularly sucrose and maltose, two cells respond to glucosinolates and two to the glucoside arbutin. Responses to mixtures of these compounds revealed that arbutin stimulates the sugar-sensitive cell and one of the glucosinolate-sensitive cells. The second glucosinolate-sensitive cell was stimulated only by glucosinolates. Dose-response curves were determined for most of the compounds tested.
The adult gustatory system differs in several respects from that of the larva. Sugar sensitivity is similar in both, though only in the larva is this cell also sensitive to amino acids. One of the glucosinolate-sensitive cells is similar in both stages, while the second cell is much more dose-dependent in adults. A fourth cell has been morphologically identified in both sensilla, but we were unable to determine its specificity.
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Sutcliffe, J.F., Mitchell, B.K. Characterization of galeal sugar and glucosinolate-sensitive cells inEntomoscelis americana adults. J. Comp. Physiol. 146, 393–399 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612708
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612708