Abstract
MEMBERS of the aquatic sub-family Anisopinae (Notonectidae, Hemiptera) are remarkable for at least two reasons. They possess a large number of tracheal cells in the abdomen packed with hæmoglobin1–3, and they are able to remain poised in mid-water for a considerable part of each dive. Both Hutchinson4 and Hungerford5 have suggested that this exploitation of the mid-water environment is made possible by the presence of hæmoglobin.
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References
Hungerford, H. B., Canad. Entomol., 54, 262 (1922).
Poisson, R., Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gén., 65, 181 (1926).
Bare, C. O., Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 18, 265 (1928).
Hutchinson, G. E., in The Elementary Chemical Composition of Marine Animals, edit. by Vinogradov, A. P., footnote on p. 443 (1953).
Hungerford, H. B., Proc. Tenth Intern. Cong. Entomol., 1, 337 (1958).
Miller, P. L., J. Ins. Physiol., 6, 243 (1961).
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MILLER, P. Possible Function of Hæmoglobin in Anisops. Nature 201, 1052 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/2011052a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2011052a0
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