Abstract
IT was discovered some years ago that there is a substantial decrease in the residual (non-fatty) dry weight of the head and thorax of tsetse flies in the course of starvation1. Subsequent analysis of flies (Glossina swynnertoni Aust.) collected in the field at different stages of the hunger cycle showed that the thoracic residual dry weight decreases by as much as 0.25 mgm. towards the end of the hunger cycle (unpublished work). The findings suggest the existence of a non-fatty food reserve, and since neither glycogen nor reducing sugars could be demonstrated in amounts sufficient to account for these changes in weight, a study of the free amino-acids was undertaken in an attempt to identify the substances responsible.
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References
Bursell, E., in Ann. Rep. East Afr., Trypanosomiasis Res. Org., Nairobi (1957).
Naftalin, L., Nature, 161, 763 (1948).
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BURSELL, E. Free Amino-Acids of the Tsetse Fly (Glossina). Nature 187, 778 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/187778a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/187778a0
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