The larvae of the Japanese horned beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae), are an example of a saprophage insect. Generally, Scarabaeid larvae, such as T. dichotomus, eat dead plant matter that has been broken down by fungi, such as Basidiomycota. It is thought that β-1,3-glucan, a constituent polysaccharide in microbes, is abundant in decayed plant matter. Studies of the degradation mechanism of β-1,3-glucan under these circumstances are lacking. In the current study, we sought to clarify the relationship between the capacity to degrade polysaccharides and the food habits of the larvae. The total activities and optimum pH levels of several polysaccharide-degrading enzymes from the larvae were investigated. The foregut, midgut and hindgut of final instar larvae were used. Enzymatic activities were detected against five polysaccharides (soluble starch, β-1,4-xylan, β-1,3-glucan, pectin and carboxymethyl cellulose) and four glycosides (p-nitrophenyl (PNP)-β-N-acetylglucosaminide, PNP-β-mannoside, PNP-β-glucoside and PNP-β-xyloside). Our results indicate that the digestive tract of the larvae is equipped with a full enzymatic system for degrading β-1,3-glucan and β-1,4-xylan to monomers. This finding elucidates the role of the polysaccharide-digesting enzymes in the larvae, and it is suggested that the larvae use these enzymes to enact their decomposition ability in the forest environment.
We observed the mating behavior of Monochamus saltuarius (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) and confirmed the following behavioral actions. The male reacted to the female with his antennae or tarsi, the male dashed to the female and mounted her back. Copulation consisted of three phases: First, while bending at the abdomen, the male inserted his penis into the female's genitalia, second, the male is motionless with the females genitalia being pulled out from her abdomen by the males penis, outside of both body cavities, finally, the male tries to pull out his penis from the female genitalia. The copulation was shown to take place mostly for one and a half minutes, with a significant tendency to be slightly shortened as the pair progressed from the first through the third copulation. The violent fight between two males took place in the presence of a female and sometimes she changed her mate. The male did not differentiate between dead and live females, because the male mounted dead females as same as live them.
The sex pheromone of the pine moth Dendrolimus spectabilis Butler was tentatively identified as 5,7-dodecadien-l-ol by the use of the electroantennogram technique. Analyses of abdominal tip extracts of virgin females by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy showed the presence of a (5Z, 7is)-isomer and a (5E, 7is)-isomer in the ratio of about ca. 5: 1. In field examinations with four synthetic isomers of 5,7-dodecadien-l-ol, only traps baited with the (5Z, 7is)-isomer captured an appreciable numbersof male moths.
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