Suggested pharmacophagy of the African bushhopper Phymateus leprosus (Fabricius) (Pyrgomorphidae, Orthoptera).
The bushhopper Phymateus leprosus (Fabricius) in the field shows a special appetite for the milkweed Asclepias fruticosa. Asclepiadaceae, like Apocynaceae and Scrophulariaceae, contain cardiac glycosides. Raw and purified extracts of these plants phagostimulate larval and adult P. leprosus. We also screened natural and half-synthetic compounds found in those plant extracts. While saponins and sapogenins did not stimulate the animals, many cardiac glycosides and aglycones, offered on filter paper, proved to be phagostimulants.
Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Federal Republic of Germany.
U
U
Seibt
G
G
Kasang
W
W
Wickler
D000818:Animals; D002301:Cardiac Glycosides / Q000032:analysis; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry; D012503:Saponins / Q000032:analysis; D013019:South Africa
D002301:Cardiac Glycosides; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012503:Saponins