The effect of analogs of juvenile hormone on the morphogenesis of the flight apparatus of the house cricket.

Abstract

The morphogenetic action of juvenile hormone (JH) on the development of the flight apparatus was studied on the house cricket (Acheta domestica L.). Simulation of an excess of JH, created by treatment of nymphs of the last instar with analogs of JH, led to the formation of adultoids with various degrees of expression of the imaginal characteristics in the structure of the elytrons and wings. An analysis of the state of the wings, wing base, and wing muscles in the adultoids shows that the flight apparatus develops as an integral functioning system, and not as a result of independent imagination of its individual constituents. The great importance of inversion of the wings was demonstrated: imaginal characteristics absent before inversion were expressed to one degree or another in all parts of the flight apparatus after inversions. The imaginization of the wing musculature is associated primarily with the degree of formation of the wing base, determining the degree of mobility of the wings. It was proposed that the morphogenetic action of JH and its analogs be evaluated on the basis not so much of the length of the wings as the degree of formation of the flight apparatus, which is most simply judged according to the mobility of the wings. It was proposed that the morphogenetic action of JH and its analogs be evaluated on the basis not so much of the length of the wings as the degree of formation of the flight apparatus, which is most simply judged according to the mobility of the wings and their position at rest.