CROP PROTECTION 44

GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY

INSECT
PHYSIOLOGY
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

RYAN CHRISTIAN B. GUIRITAN

Faculty In-charge, CPRT 44
Department of Entomology
 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
• is involved in the exchange of gases between the cellular and
external environment of insects.

• Unlike the gaseous exchange systems of many animals, it does not

rely on an oxygen transport pigment (hemoglobin) and does not use
the circulatory system as the vehicle for gaseous exchange
• Oxygen always comes from the atmosphere and it always crosses
the membrane to reach the cells in insects where it is utilized, in an
aqueous solution
• Carbon dioxide as an end product is eventually liberated, at least in
part in a gaseous state

In insects in which the liberation tends to be sporadic, there is evidence

that some of the gaseous product is converted to carbonate
 TRACHEAL SYSTEM

• In the vast majority of insects, gaseous

exchange is accomplished by a system of
branching tubules or tracheae
• In most terrestrial and aquatic systems
these structures communicate with the
outgoing side by means of comparatively
small openings, the spiracles
• Internally the tracheae divide and
subdivide, their diameters becoming
slender as they probe deeply into the
tissues of the insect
TRACHEAL SYSTEM

• Internally the tracheae divide and subdivide, their diameters

becoming slender as they probe deeply into the tissues of
the insect
• Spiracles – external openings of the tracheae

• Air sacs – tracheal dilations of varying size, number and

distribution, found mainly in flying insects

• Tracheae - tubes ranging from 0.5 um to less than 10 um in

diameter

• Tracheoles – tubes ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 um in diameter; in

close association with cells

• Taenidia – a series of folds that usually run spirally around the

lumen; lend a measure of support to the trachea, protecting
against collapse with changes in pressure
 ADAPTATIONS OF RESPIRATION IN
AQUATIC INSECTS
• Aquatic insects obtain oxygen directly from the air or from air
dissolved in water

Aquatic Insects Obtaining Oxygen from the Air

Aquatic Insects Obtaining O2 from Water
 AQUATIC INSECTS OBTAINING
OXYGEN FROM THE AIR
• Spiracular adaptations
– Some dipteran larvae produce an oily
secretion from peristigmatic glands
and so create a dry “hydrofuge”
region around each spiracle.
– Notonecta and the larva of the
dipteran Hedriodiscus truquii, each
spiracle is surrounded by a group of
hydrofuge hairs, so that while the
insect is submerged, the hairs curve
over the spiracle and so prevent the
entry of water, but when they touch
surface film they spread out because
of the effect of surface tension
• Dipteran Tipulidae and Anisopodidae, spiracles open onto a post-
abdominal disc which is withdrawn when the insect submerges, so
that the surrounding fleshy perispiracular lobes close over it.
• In many insect larvae the functional spiracles lie at the end of a
respiratory siphon, which in most cases is at the posterior end of
the abdomen (e.g. dipteran Culex)
• In the larvae of dipterans Eristalis and Ptychoptera, which live
in the bottom, the siphon is very extensible, telescopic
respiratory siphon
• Larvae of Donacia simplex (Coleoptera) and larvae of dipterans
Chrysogaster, Notiphila, Mansonia and Taeniorhynchus richiardii,
the siphon is pointed and is able to penetrate the gas spaces of
plant roots (aerenchyma)
Temporary (Compressible) Gas Gills
or Physical Gills
• A number of aquatic insects
carry a bubble of air with
them when they are
submerged, and it has long
been considered that these
bubbles are capable of
extracting oxygen from the
surrounding water
• The bubble slowly declines in
volume and then has to be
reformed by a visit to the
surface
Temporary (Compressible) Gas Gills
or Physical Gills
• A dense pile of body hairs and or under the elytra often holds
them

• When an insect dives, the gases in its bubble would contain

approximately 21% Oxygen and 79% Nitrogen (while the water
contains 33% O2, 64% N and 3 % CO2; CO2 is very soluble so
there is never very much in the bubble)
 AQUATIC INSECTS OBTAINING O2
FROM WATER
• The larvae of many aquatic insects which obtain O2 from water
have closed tracheal systems, i.e. one in which the spiracles are
non-functional or absent
• O2 from water diffuses through the cuticle and enters the tracheal
system either over the general body surface or via specialized
tracheal gills

1. Cutaneous respiration
2. Tracheal gills
3. Permanent (incompressible) gas gills or plastrons
1. Cutaneous Respiration
• depends on the permeability of
the cuticle and a lower O2
tension in the tissues as
compared with water

• some aquatic larvae with

closed tracheal system (e.g.
Chironomus) rely on O2
diffusing in over the general
body surface and have a well
developed tracheal plexus lying
beneath a rather thin cuticle
2. Tracheal Gills

• these are very thin cuticular extensions of the body wall or of

the intestinal wall with a network of tracheoles beneath

a. Lateral abdominal gills

b. Caudal gills
c. Rectal gills
 Lateral abdominal gills

• In the Ephemeropteran larvae,

the gills are borne on the
abdomen and their surface area
is inversely proportional to the
enviromental O2
Lateral abdominal gills of mayflies. All are the
4th gill except for that of Leptophlebta cincta
which is of the 3rd gill. (a) Baetis rodani, (b),
Cloeon simile, (c), Leptophlebia cincta, (d)
Habrophlebia fusca, (e) Ecdyonurus fluminum
and (f) Ephemera vulgata (From Kerkut et al )
Caudal Gills

Zygopteran naiads have 3 caudal gills

Tracheal gills (caudal lamellae) of

Zygopteran naiad. A, Dorsal view of
the posterior end of the abdomen of
the naiad of Coenagrion, B. Lateral
view of one lamella and C. Transverse
section of a caudal lamella of
Synlestes (After Chapman, 2013)
Rectal Gills

• Larval Anisopterans have gills in

the anterior part of the rectum,
branchial chamber
• The gills have abundant tracheal
supply
• Each gill is thickened at the base
and the epithelium is modified
for ion absorption

Internal view of rectum

Rectal Gills
• Tracheoles are present in deep
folds of basal plasma
membrane within the cells so
that they are very close
beneath the cuticle

• The tracheoles connect with

tracheae which collect into 4
main longitudinal trunks
3. Permanent (Incompressible)
Gas Gills Or Plastrons
• Permanent gas gills are called plastrons and
are held in place by either hairs or by cuticular
modifications
• The tracheae open into the plastron so that
oxygen can become independent of the
atmospheric air to obtain all their oxygen from
water
• In the adult Aphelocheirus the plastron covers
the ventral and part of the dorsal surface of the
body
3. Permanent (Incompressible)
Gas Gills Or Plastrons
• The hairs that hold the air are 5-6 um high
and about 0.2 um in diameter
• They are packed very close together
• The spiracles open into the plastron by small
pores along a series of radiating canals in
the cuticle
• These canals are lined with hairs so that the
entry of water into the tracheal system is
prevented.