

206 



unique trait of the boll weevil or that the maximum hormone titer occurs in a 

 later stage in pupal development. However, this extremely low titer in 1-day- 

 old boll weevil pupae will necessitate the collection of large quantities of 

 insects for the isolation of sufficient material for structure determination. 



399. ; Thompson, A. C; Gueldner, R. C; and Hedin, P. A. 1972. Variations 

 in lipid content of the boll weevil during metamorphosis. J. Insect 

 Physiol. 18: 161-167. 



When neutral lipids and phospholipids of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis , 

 were studied during the larval-pupal ecdysis, the volume of lipids was found 

 to increase until the pupal stage when it underwent a small decrease. The 

 opposite was true for the phospholipids. The neutral lipids were high in 

 palmitic, palmitaleic, and oleic acids; the phospholipids had large amounts 

 of stearic and linoleic acids. Also, the composition of the phospholipids 

 was qualitatively similar in the larval, pharate pupal, and pupal stages 

 though the larval stage was marked by a predominance of phosphatidyl ethanol- 

 armine and a high concentration of linoleic acid in the phosphatidyl choline. 



400. ; Thompson, A. C; Gueldner, R. C; and Hedin, P. A. 1974. Esterifi- 

 cation of geraniol by homogenates of boll weevil. Ann. Entomol. Soc. ' 

 Am. 67: 728. '^ 



The boll weevil possesses enzymes capable of esterifying geraniol with its 

 normal fatty acids. The implications of this reaction are not clear at 

 present since no information has been reported on reactions of this kind 

 in natural systems. It is possible that these compounds are normal by- 

 products of the terpenoid pathway in this insect. It may also be argued 

 that these products are the result of a detoxication mechanism apart from 

 intrinsic biological pathways. No evidence supporting either argument 

 exists at present. However, further research at this laboratory may yield 



