insect breathing

[Doug Yanega]

Ken Philip wrote:

>        Respiration in terrestrial insects is varied enough that it's
>difficult to make general statements that apply across the board. The
>following should apply in most cases, however.

(4) It appears that Lepidopteran larvae have the tracheoles of the last
pair of spiracles modified to form free-floating "lungs" in the hemolymph,
where the hemocytes pick up oxygen directly from the thin-walled tracheoles
dangling in the body cavity. The morphology was long known, but evidently
only recently was the physiology studied (appeared in a recent Nature).

Peace,

Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
phone: 031-449-2579, fax: 031-441-5481  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
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