Abstract
IN a previous communication1 I reported the discovery of a sucking stylet in ticks which, to all appearances, was the homologue of the hypopharynx in other blood-sucking arthropods. On the analogy of the feeding mechanism in ticks, it seemed reasonable to postulate that in biting flies the food-channel is not formed by the apposition of the labrum-epipharynx and the hypopharynx, as has hitherto been supposed, but that it is represented exclusively by what has until now been regarded as the hypopharyngeal extension of the salivary duct. I referred to this tentative conclusion at the meeting of the Royal Entomological Society of London held on October 3, 19342. I have now carried Out numerous dissections upon freshly killed specimens of Stomoxys calcitrans. As will appear from Figs. 1 and 2, the labrum-epipharynx in this species of fly is entirely unconnected with the buccal chamber and is practically separated from the hypopharynx by an inward thrust of the apodeme, whilst the buccal chamber itself is continued directly into the expanded proximal portion of the hypopharynx, with the salivary duct terminating distally at this point.
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References
NATURE, 134, 644; 1934.
Proc. Roy. Ent. Soc., 9, 76; 1934.
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SEN, S. Mechanism of Feeding in Blood-sucking Diptera. Nature 135, 915 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135915a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135915a0
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