Master of suspense

[Woody Woods]

I will never again be surprised about leps or other insects surviving
"impossible" circumstances-- here are a couple of firsthand lab stories:

(1) A summer intern needed a dead but visually intact sphinx moth, Manduca
sexta, for a mating experiment. She froze one at -20 C for the morning, then
carried it to the experiment cage and pinned it on a board. You can guess
the rest-- the moth came conspicuously to life and likely was not pleased
about the pin...

(2) Another Manduca study, this time of the cibario-pharyngeal pump-- the
thing they drink with- required the removal of heads from some deeply
chilled moths. Hours later, the headless moths were behaving quite
normally-- to the point where another researcher who had much experience
with this species dropped by and we showed him the caged headless moths and
asked him whether he noticed anything strange about them-- he glanced, said
"no", shrugged and turned away! I have heard one report of headless Manducas
even mating, though likely (absent antennae) the male was probably in a
small cage with the female and simply got lucky.

We should all be so tough (in print, at least, this group pretty much is!)

Woody


*************************************************
William A. Woods Jr.
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125

Lab: 617-287-6642
Fax: 617-287-6650
*************************************************

> From: Kenelm Philip <fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu>
> Reply-To: fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu
> Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 10:59:29 -0800 (AKDT)
> To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Subject: Re: Master of suspense
> 
> 
> I've gotten a number of queries re my posting about _Pieris rapae_
> larvae living in the human gut. Most wanted to know my source for this
> tidbit, and many found it hard to believe that the caterpillars survived
> passing through the stomach. One objected to the phrase "living in the
> human gut", and said it should have read "_on_".
> 
> So, here's the source: "Six-Legged Science" by Brian Hocking (1968),
> p. 101. Here is the quote in its entirety:
> 
> "I should perhaps mention at this point that there is an uncommon condition,
> referred to in medical jargon as scoleciasis, in which the human gut houses
> living caterpillars. The term scoleciasis should properly be restricted to
> an infestation with tapeworms, but that no other term has been coined for
> this other condition serves to emphasize that it is not common. Interest-
> ingly, the commonest caterpillar involved is our friend the imported cabbage
> worm, taking up residence presumably when its host eats raw or undercooked
> cabbage, and maintained by his continuing to do so in uncommon amounts. So
> perhaps it is well to notice tiny white pillars [eggs]--or tiny green
> caterpillars--on cabbage leaves, and give them an extra chew in passing.
> So far as I know, these caterpillars never mature on the lee side of the
> stomach or on the wall of the large intestine, so that the expression
> 'butterflies in the stomach' remains no more than a metaphor, at least as
> regards living ones."
> 
> For the people who thought the caterpillars could never survive
> going through the stomach and its acids, note that there is a well-known
> condition, called myiasis, in which live maggots reside within the body.
> Intestinal myiasis is one form that this can take, and Evens (in "Life on
> a Little-known Planet") notes that "A wide variety of fly larvae, including
> some otherwise relatively harmless ones, are able to establish infections in
> the digestive tract if swallowed." As involves stomach acids, Evens states:
> "The maggots of some of the myiasis producers are remarkably tough. Pro-
> fessor James reports that some have been kept in 95 per cent alochol for
> an hour and have been known to produce adults; they will also survive for
> some time in hydrochloric acid, turpentine, or carbolic acid.
> 
> And after all, tapeworm eggs manage to make the journey unscathed.
> 
> Ken Philip
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> 
> http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
> 
> 
> 


 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl