Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T15:14:21.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the Nephrocytes of Pediculus humanus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

George H. F. Nuttall
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, University of Cambridge.)
D. Keilin
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, University of Cambridge.)

Extract

In Pediculus humanus are found two groups of excretory-accumulatory cells known as nephrocytes.

The one group, the peri-oesophageal, lies ventrally and consists of large cells aggregated usually in two masses about the oesophagus anterior to the reniform salivary glands.

The second group lies dorsally and consists of disseminated cell aggregates linked with the fat body.

The typical nephrocyte is a binucleate cell with granular protoplasm containing greenish droplets of varying size. The excretory function of the nephrocytes is demonstrated by intra-coelomic injection of ammonia-carmine. The latter, 24 hours after injection, is taken up by the nephrocytes which become red and filled with the carmine granules. These granules remain in the protoplasm of the nephrocytes throughout the life of the insect.

Similar cells exist in Mallophaga and have been wrongly described by some authors as salivary glands.

The two groups of nephrocytes, described by us in Pediculus, occur in other insects, but the dorsal group in the latter forms usually two chains of cells (known as pericardial cells) lying on either side of the heart.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1921

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bruntz, L. (1903). Contribution à l'étude de l'excrétion chez les Arthropodes. Arch. de Biol. xx. 217422, Pls. VII–IX.Google Scholar
Cuénot, L. (1896). Études physiologiques sur les Orthoptères. Arch. de Biol. xiv. 292341 Pls. XII–XIII.Google Scholar
Fulmek, L. (1909). Das Rückengefäss der Mallophagen. Arb. aus dem Zool. Inst. Wien, xvii. 4564, 2 Pls.Google Scholar
Grosse, F. (1885). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Mallophagen. Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. xlii. 530558, Pl. XVIII.Google Scholar
Keilin, D. (1917). Recherches sur les Anthomyides à larves carnivores. Parasitology, ix. 325450, Pls. V–XV.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowalevsky, A. (1886). Zum Verhalten des Rückengefässes und des girlandenförmigen Zellenstrangs der Musciden während der Metamorphose. Biol. Centralbl. vi. 7479.Google Scholar
Kowalevsky, A. (1889). Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Excretionsorgane. Biol. Centralbl. ix. 33.Google Scholar
Kowalevsky, A. (1892). Sur les Organes excréteurs chez les Arthropodes terrestres. Congrès International de Zoologie, 2 Sess. 1 part, 187. Moscou.Google Scholar
Kramer, P. (1869). Beiträge zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Gattung Philopterus (Nitzsch). Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. xix. 452468, Pl. XXXIV.Google Scholar
Metalnikoff, C. K. (1896). Sur les organes excréteurs chez les Insectes. Bull. Acad. Impér. de Sc. de Saint-Pétersbourg, iv. (in Russian).Google Scholar
Müller, J. (1915). Zur Naturgeschichte der Kleiderlaus. Das Oesterreichische Sanitätswesen (Wien u. Leipzig: Hölder), xxvii. Nos. 36–38, 47–49 Beilage. Reprint 75 pp. 4 Pls. 37 Text-figs, with Appendix.Google Scholar
Patton, W. S. and Cragg, F. W. (1913). A Text-book of Medical Entomology. Christian Literature Society for India, London.Google Scholar
Sikora, H. (1916). Beiträge zur Anatomie, Physiologie und Biologic der Kleiderlausb (Pediculus vestimenti Nitzsch). Arch. f. Schiffs- u. Tropenhyg. xx. Beiheft 1.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, R. E. (1899). The Anatomy of the Mallophaga. In New Mallophaga, III. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences, vi. 145224, Pls. X–XVII.Google Scholar