ホソオチョウにおけるエクジステロイドホルモンによる卵巣成熟の誘起

抄録

Ovarian maturation of the butterfly Sericinus montela was investigated during pupal-adult development. As a first step, to establish the timing of ovarian maturation, female pupae of various ages and newly eclosed females were dissected. Ovarian maturation started in the early phase of adult development and then gradually developed toward adult eclosion. Completely matured eggs were found just before and after adult eclosion. Effects of ecdysteroid and juvenile hormone analog on ovarian maturation were then investigated using isolated pupal abdomens. When 20-hydroxyecdysone of various doses was applied to them, the level of ovarian maturation depended on hormone doses given. By contrast, methoprene was not effective. These results strongly suggest that ovarian maturation of this butterfly occurrs before adult eclosion and is stimulated by ecdysteroid, but not by juvenile hormone, which is different from the cases of many other butterfly species.