JOURNAL ARTICLE

Larval and Pupal Silk Variation in the Indian Meal Moth (Plodia interpunctella): the Impact of Overcrowding and Temperature.

  • Published In: Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 2023, v. 77, n. 2. P. 116 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Barve, Toshita V.; Godfrey, R. Keating; Storer, Caroline G.; Kawahara, Akito Y. 3 of 3

Abstract

The Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) is becoming an important biological model to study silk. While there are many potential applications to materials science and medicine, many aspects of silk production in this species remain unknown. Here we characterize the silk of P. interpunctella by measuring the width of larval wandering and pupal silk strands and find that the latter is significantly thicker than the former. We also report intraspecific variation in pupal silk production in our lab-reared colony with a very small number of individuals forgoing pupal silk production entirely (< 4%). Overcrowding had no effect on silk formation, but exposure to elevated temperature reduced pupal silk production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 2023/06, Vol. 77, Issue 2, p116
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Zoology
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0024-0966
  • DOI:10.18473/lepi.77i2.a5
  • Accession Number:163910035
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society is the property of Lepidopterists' Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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