Molecular Physiology and Evolution of Insect Digestive Systems Walter R Terra Clelia Ferreira Carlos P Silva
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Volume 7
Entomology in Focus
Clelia Ferreira
Instituto de Química, Universidade de Sã o Paulo, Sã o Paulo, Brazil
Carlos P. Silva
Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina,
Florianó polis - SC, Brazil
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dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
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been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Clelia Ferreira
Email: [email protected]
Carlos P. Silva
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Insects are the most diverse living beings and their ancestors moved
from the sea and colonized the land long before the chordates.
Phylogenetic and fossil data were combined to detail the patterns of
insect evolution. Insects able to flex their wings over the back
(Neoptera) correspond to most of the insects and evolved along the
major lineages: Polyneoptera, Condylognatha, and Holometabola.
Polyneoptera includes Dictyoptera – cockroaches and termites that are
omnivorous or wood feeders and the carnivorous mantids – and
Orthoptera – the omnivorous crickets and grass-feeding grasshoppers.
Condylognatha includes Hemiptera which are the only insects able to
live entirely on plant sap such as aphids, cicadas, and spittlebugs; and
others like bugs adapted to different diets. Holometabola is the most
successful lineage with 86% of the insect species, have complete
metamorphosis (larva, pupa, and adult) and comprises the major insect
orders: Coleoptera (beetles); Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, and bees);
Diptera (mosquitoes and flies); and Lepidoptera (butterflies and
moths). Insects of these orders explore the most diverse food sources
like other insects, stems, leaves and wood, seeds, keratin (like woolen
carpets), pollen, nectar, fungi, and vertebrate blood. The major selective
pressures affecting insect guts identified were: (a) adaptations to deal
with large amounts of dilute fluid food, (b) adaptations to digesting
plant and fungal cells as a result of horizontal transfer of genes from
microorganisms and recruitment of lysosomal proteins as digestive
enzymes, (c) adaptations to avoiding plant inhibitors by gene expansion
and new functionalization, (d) and adaptations to avoiding prolonged
exposure to natural enemies and to living in short-lived media by
reduction of life span permitted by more efficient midguts.
1.2 Polyneoptera
1.2.1 Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera comprises Blattodea (cockroaches and termites) and
Mantodea (mantis). Cockroaches are believed to be ancient insects
arising in the Carboniferous. However, though modern families evolved
since the Cretaceous and are usually omnivorous, some species only
feed on dead wood (wood roaches) (Grimaldi and Engel 2005). Mantids
are usually carnivorous with some species feeding on pollen as a
complement (Beckman and Hurd 2003). Blattodea includes Blattidae,
the most ancient group of modern cockroaches, exemplified by
Periplaneta americana (American cockroach) and Blata orientalis
(Oriental cockroach), and two other major branches: the branch
Cryptocercidae-Termitidae, where one finds the termites that are no
longer considered to be a separate order (Isoptera) (Inward et al.
2007), and the branch Ectobiidae (early Blatellidae)-Blaberidae. An
example of Ectobiidae is Blatella germanica and of Blaberidae are the
wood roaches Panesthia cribata and Nauphoeta cineri (Grimaldi and
Engel 2005).
Lo et al. (2007) agree with Inward et al. (2007) that the order
Isoptera should be dismissed. However, they think that the name
Termitidae should not be employed to refer to all termites, because
Termitidae is still in use to describe the more derived termites. We
accepted this argument and will refer to all termites as the “taxon of
termites” and will maintain the traditional division of families and
subfamilies of the old order Isoptera.
1.2.2 Orthoptera
Orthoptera are the dominant group of chewing hemimetabolous
insects. The ancestors of Orthoptera gave rise to the crickets (suborder
Ensifera, exemplified by Gryllodes sigillatus), which are omnivorous or
predatory, and the grasshoppers (suborder Caelifera like Abracris
flavolineata), which feed mainly on grasses. Locusts are grasshoppers
that periodically form large populations, attacking one and then
swarming to other places. Locusta migratoria, the migratory locust, is
the most widespread locust species being found mainly in all of Africa,
Australia, and New Zealand. Schistocerca gregaria, the desert locust, is
found primarily in Africa, Arabia, and West Asia. The phylogeny of
Orthoptera is discussed by Zhang et al. (2013).
1.3 Condylognatha
1.3.1 Thysanoptera
Thysanoptera (thrips) is sister of the order Hemiptera and together
forms the taxon Condylognatha. Thysanoptera have piercing-sucking
mouthparts like Hemiptera, but less specialized for sucking fluids. The
mouthparts are usually too short to tap into the vascular system of the
plants. Feeding thrips perforate the surface of the plant tissues (their
most common food) and insert their mouthparts in them. Then, in back
and forth movements, fluid, particles of plants, or prey (in predatory
thrips) are ingested (Grimaldi and Engel 2005).
1.3.2 Hemiptera
Hemiptera corresponds to about 7.1% of the insect species and are
surpassed in number of species only by the holometabolous order of
Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera. The internal
phylogenetic relationships of Hemiptera are summarized in Fig. 1.2 and
discussed in detail by Johnson et al. (2018). Only Hemiptera developed
a sap-sucking habit, though insects of many other orders have suitable
piercing-sucking mouthparts. Thus, it is likely that the sap-sucking
habit depends on modifications in the midguts that enable hemipterans
to deal rapidly with large amounts of dilute fluid food.
Fig. 1.2 Simplified phylogenetic tree of the relationships of the major Hemiptera
taxa. Numbers in nodes: 1, Sternorrhyncha; 2, Auchenorrhyncha; 3, Heteroptera; 4,
Cimicomorpha; 5, Pentatomomorpha. (Details in text)
Hemiptera ancestors on evolution gave origin to Sternorrhyncha
(aphids and white flies), exemplified by Acyrthosiphon pisum, which
together with Auchenorrhyncha (cicadas, spittlebugs, leafhoppers, and
planthoppers), like Homalodisca vitripennis and Nilapavarta lugens,
usually feed on plant sap, either from the phloem or xylem.
Phloem fluid sap is transported downward through the outer layers
of the plant stems. It is usually rich in sugars, with significant amounts
of free amino acids, potassium, and some organic acids. Some phloem
fluids are rich in proteins, functioning in wound signaling and plugging
the sieve elements to avoid nutrient loss. Other proteins are involved in
defense against herbivorous and phloem feeders, exemplified by
protease inhibitors and lectins (Kehr 2006; Zhang et al. 2012). Xylem
fluid is transported upward through the inner layers of the plant stems,
containing large amounts of potassium and trace amounts of amino
acids and sugars (Lopez-Millan et al. 2000). There are also small
quantities of proteins active in repair and defense that are taken up or
produced by the roots (Buhtz et al. 2004).
Sternorrhyncha sucks phloem sap. A shift to xylem feeding, which is
more internal than phloem, coincided with the origin of Cicadomorpha
among Auchenorrhyncha (Johnson et al. (2018). Both Sternorrhyncha
and Auchenorrhyncha excrete honeydew (excess sugar ingested by the
insects), but Sternorrhyncha excrete more, often several times the body
weight of the insect per day (Grimaldi and Engel 2005). The honeydew
is collected by ants.
Heteroptera are adapted to different diets and have two major
infraorders Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha. Among the
Cimicomorpha, the largest family are the Miridae (plant bugs),
exemplified by Lygus sp. and the bed bug Cimex lectularis. Another large
family of Cimicomorpha is Reduviidae, thought to be the basal group of
the infraorder and its most studied representative is Rhodnius prolixus.
The largest families of Pentatomomorpha are the Pentatomidae that
have scent glands (e.g., Nezara viridula) and virtually all feed on plant
sap or fruit, rather than on vegetative tissues, whereas the Lygaeoidea
(e.g., Oncopeltus fasciatus, the common milkweed bug, and
Halyomorpha halys, the brown marmorated stink bug) and
Pyrrhochoridae (e.g., Dysdercus peruvianus) are seed-sucker bugs
(Weirauch et al. 2019).
1.4 Holometabola
1.4.1 Coleoptera
Coleoptera is the most successful order of Holometabola, corresponding
to about 35% of the insect species. This success probably is a
consequence of Coleoptera being the first land insects with complete
metamorphosis to massively occupy hidden niches on the ground
(Grimaldi and Engel 2005). Furthermore, there was an adaptive
radiation of specialized herbivorous beetles (Phytophaga), following
the horizontal transfer of microbial genes encoding plant cell wall–
digesting enzymes (see Chap. 10). Those enzymes made possible beetle
leaf and seed mining and stem and wood boring.
The internal phylogenetic relationships of Coleoptera are
summarized in Fig. 1.3 and discussed in detail by Zhang et al. (2018)
and McKenna et al. (2019). The beetle ancestor gave rise to the major
suborders Adephaga and Polyphaga with the infraorders Elateriformia,
Staphyliniformia, Scarabaeiformia, Bostrichiformia, and Cucujiformia
(Zhang et al. 2018; McKenna et al. 2019). Adephaga are the largely
predaceous ground and water beetles comprising approximately 10%
of all beetles, most of which are from the family Carabidae (e.g.,
Pheropsophus aequinoctialis).
Fig. 1.3 Simplified phylogenetic tree of relationships of the major Coleoptera taxa.
Numbers in nodes: 1, Adephaga; 2, Polyphaga; 3, Elateriformia; 4, Staphyliniformia; 5,
Scarabaeiformia; 6, Bostrichiformia; 7, Cucujiformia; *, Phytophaga. (Details in text)
1.4.2 Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is traditionally divided into Symphyta (sawflies and
horntails or wood wasps) and Apocrita, which comprises Parasitica,
parasites of other insects, and Aculeata, in which the piercing
ovipositor of Parasitica evolved into a stinging organ (Grimaldi and
Engel 2005). Extensive phylogenetic studies detailed the evolution and
the internal phylogenetic relationships of Hymenoptera (Peters et al.
2017). It is now accepted that Symphyta is paraphyletic and some old
clades were reorganized.
The basal lineage of Hymenoptera (Eusymphita) is formed by
sawflies that are external leaf feeders of the superfamilies
Pamphilioidea and Tenthredinoidea (which resemble caterpillars, e.g.,
Themos malaisei) or are wood wasps that bore wood as larvae. Among
the endophytic sawflies lineages, Orussoidea (parasitoid wood wasps)
are the closest relatives of Apocrita (waisted wasps). The rapid
diversification of Apocrita is thought to be helped by the evolution of
the wasp waist, a constriction between abdominal segments that favor
movements of the abdomen, including the ovipositor. Apocrita evolved
along two major lineages: Parasitoida (parasitoid wasps, e.g., Bracon
hebetor), characterized by endoparasitism and miniaturization, and
Aculeata (stinging wasps). Aculeata evolved from lineages close to
Parasitoida, whose females used their ovipositor to sting and
immobilize the host larvae. Wasp females then lay eggs on the host and
their larvae develop inside them. Parasitoida includes Ichneumonoidea,
Chalcidoidea, and Cynipoidea (respectively ichneumon, chalcid, and gall
wasps).
Aculeata gave origin to Vespoidea and Formicidae-Apoidea.
Vespoidea comprises the potter, honey, and social wasps. Potter or
mason wasps are so named because of their mud nests; honey wasps
because they produce honey, and social wasps, which are also known as
paper wasps, because they build and live in communal nests of a paper-
like material made by mixing wood fibers with saliva. Formicidae are
the ants and Apoidea comprises digger wasps (Crabonidae) and the
bees (Anthophila). Ants are among the most ubiquitous insects
amounting in number of individuals to about 1% of all insects. All ants
are social insects and may be herbivorous, scavengers, or predators,
and some collect seeds or pieces of leaves and flowers on which they
cultivate the fungus they eat (leaf-cutting ants of the tribe Attine). Bees
(e.g., Apis mellifera and Scaptotrigona bipunctata) originate in evolution
within the apoid wasp family Crabonidae with a change from a
predatory to a herbivorous (pollen gathering) lifestyle associated with
the diversification of angiosperms, which was followed by a great
expansion of bees. A table detailing the evolution of food habits of
Hymenoptera is found in Daly et al. (1998).
1.4.3 Diptera
Diptera account for about 15% of insect species and are the most
ecologically variable group of insects, repeatedly changing between
habits and habitats along the evolution. Most Diptera are saprophytes
(consumers of vegetal or animal remains) and their larvae are
predominantly found in wet media. There were several independent
origins of predation, phytophagy (plant feeding), mycophagy (fungus
feeding), hematophagy (vertebrate blood feeding), myiasis (internal
feeding in vertebrates), besides the basal habit of saprophagy and dung
feeding (coprophagy) (Wigmann and Yeats 2017). A list of habitats and
feeding food habits of Diptera is found in Daly et al. (1998). As a
consequence of the remarkable diversification of Diptera, the study of
their internal phylogenetic relationship is difficult and is still underway
(Yeats et al. 2007; Wigmann and Yeats 2017).
Traditionally Diptera is divided into two suborders: Nematocera
and Brachycera. Nematocera include the most structurally primitive
Diptera and according to modern studies employing a phylogenetic
approach it is paraphyletic, whereas Brachycera is monophyletic. There
is a trend now to recognize four infraorders corresponding to the old
Nematocera clade: Tipulomorpha, Culicomorpha, Psychomorpha, and
Bibionomorpha (Wigmann and Yeats 2017).
Culicomorpha include Chironomidae (midges, exemplified by
Chironomus thummi), Culicidae (mosquitoes as Aedes aegypti and
Anopheles gambia), and Simuliidae (blackflies, usually of the genus
Simulium). Culicomorpha larvae are plankton feeders living in standing
water (Culicidae) or feeders of organic matter at the bottom of bodies
of water (Chironomidae). The adult forms do not feed (Chironomidae),
and others feed on nectar (Simuliidae and Culicidae males) or on
vertebrate blood (Simuliidae and Culicidae females) (Daly et al. 1998).
Psycomorpha includes the psychodidae blood-feeders and disease
vector Phlebotomus. Bibionomorpha comprises 17 families, exemplified
by Mycetophilidae (fungus gnats) and Sciaridae (black fungus gnats,
e.g., Rhynchosciara americana), which usually are litter decomposers in
forests.
Brachicera is divided into a branch with three infraorders, one of
which is Tabanomorpha, plus Muscomorpha, which includes two
superfamilies and Eremoneura. Tabanomorpha includes Tabanidae
(horse flies), which cut the skin of the host with their blade-shaped
mandibles and then lap up the flowing blood. Eremoneura comprises
two branches: one containing a single superorder (Empidoidea) and
Cyclorrhapha, a large grouping with seven superorders, from which the
more important are Muscoidea, Oestroidea, and Acalyptrata. Well-
known Muscoidea insects are the housefly (Musca domestica,
Muscidae), the tsetse fly (Glossina palpalis, Glossinidae), and the stable
fly (Stomoxys calcitrans, Muscidae).
Among the Oestroidea, there are the grey flesh fly Sarcophaga
bullata and the blow fly Calliphora erytrocephala, which are important
in the field of forensic entomology, because of their value in post-
mortem interval estimation. Other blow flies like Lucilia cuprina lay
eggs in wounds of living animals, causing myiasis, and even in humans
and may result in huge livestock losses. The horse bot fly Gasterophilus
intestinalis lives inside horse stomachs as larvae.
Finally, Acalyptrata includes the leaf-miners Agromyzidae, the true
fruit flies (Tephritidae, exemplified by Ceratitis capitata and
Anastrepha), and the laboratory fruit flies of the geneticists, Drosophila
melanogaster (Drosophilidae). Tephritidae are named true fruit flies
because they usually attack fruits of living plants, whereas
Drosophilidae actually are fungus feeders that acquired the name fruit
fly because they feed on decaying fruit.
Most Brachycera larvae feed on decaying plants (Drosophilidae) or
animals (Muscidae, Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae), although they may
be also predatory (Asilidae, robber flies), herbivorous or scavengers
(Tabanidae), leaf and stem miners (Agromyzidae, leaf miner flies),
parasites of insects (Tachinidae) or of mammals (Gasterophilidae), and
inhabitants of fruits (Tephritidae). Brachycera adults may be predatory
(Asilidae), pollen feeders (Syrphidae, the hover flies) and blood feeders
(e.g., Tabanidae females, the horn fly Haematobia irritans, the stable fly
Stomoxys calcitrans, and the tsetse fly Glossina palpalis), but most feed
on nectar or liquids associated with decaying material (Daly et al.
1998).
1.4.4 Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) amounts to about 13% of the insect
species and originated in the Late Carboniferous (about 300 Ma) with
mandibulate adults and larvae feeding externally on nonvascular land
plants (Bryophites: hornworts, mosses, liverworts). In the Middle
Triassic (about 241 Ma), a long coiled tube-like proboscis evolved,
which allowed lepidopterans to acquire nectar from flowering plants
(Kawahara et al. 2019). Hearing organs appeared independently in
several lineages of moths, before the origin of bats, pre-adapting them
to detect the bat sonar, which permitted them to avoid bat predation
(Kawahara et al. 2019).
Extant species of Lepidoptera include basal lineages and the clade
Ditrysia, containing the great majority of species. Ditrysia comprises
several superfamilies like Tineoidea (e.g., Tineola bisselliela, the
common clothes moth), Tortricoidea (e.g., the leaf rollers of the family
Tortricidae), and Papilionoidea (butterflies) that is the sister group of
all remaining moths superfamilies, exemplified by Pyraloidea (snout
moths, which includes the Pyralidae Ephestia kueniella and the
Crambidae Diathraea saccharalis); Noctuoidea (miller moths as
Spodoptera frugiperda); Bombycoidea comprising the families
Bombycidae (e.g., the familiar silkworm, Bombyx mori), Sphingidae
(e.g., the cassava hornworm, Erinnyis levis and the tobacco hornworm,
Manduca sexta); and Saturniidae (e.g., the giant silkworm moth,
Hyalophora cecropia). Other details of the internal phylogenetic
relationships of Lepidoptera are discussed by Kawahara et al. (2019).
Adults usually feed on nectar, honeydew, or fermenting sap with their
proboscis, whereas larvae as a rule are external feeders of higher
plants, which nearly all are attacked by at least one species of
Lepidoptera.
According to the patterns of insect evolution discussed above, the
major selective pressures affecting insect guts identified were: (a)
adaptations to deal with large amounts of dilute fluid food (see Chap.
13 under Hemiptera); (b) adaptations to digesting plant and fungal
cells as a result of horizontal transfer of genes from microorganisms
and recruitment of lysosomal proteins as digestive enzymes (see Chaps.
9 and 10); (c) adaptations to avoiding plant inhibitors by gene
expansion and new functionalization (see Chap. 11); and (d)
adaptations to avoiding prolonged exposure to natural enemies and to
living in short-lived media by reduction of life span permitted by more
efficient midguts (see Chap. 14).
References
Beckman N, Hurd LE (2003) Pollen feeding and fitness in praying mantids: the
vegetarian side of a tritrophic predator. Environ Entomol 32:881–885
[Crossref]
Daly HV, Doyen JT, Purcell AH III (1998) Introduction to insect biology and diversity,
2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Johnson KP, Dietrich CH, Friedrich F et al (2018) Phylogenomics and the evolution of
hemipteroid insects. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:12775–12780
[Crossref][PubMed][PubMedCentral]
Kehr J (2006) Phloem sap proteins: their identities and potential roles in the
interaction between plants and phloem-feeding insects. J Exp Bot 57:767–774
[Crossref][PubMed]
Lo N, Engel MS, Cameron S et al (2007) Save Isoptera: a comment on Inward et al.
Biol Lett 3:562–563
[Crossref][PubMed][PubMedCentral]
McKenna DD, Shin S, Ahrens D et al (2019) The evolution and genomics basis of
beetle diversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas19096551161-
1
Wigmann BM, Yeats DK (2017) Phylogeny of Diptera. In: Kirk-Spriggs AH, Sinclair BJ
(eds) Manual of afrotropical Diptera vol 1: introductory chapters and keys to Diptera
families, Suricata, vol 4. South African Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp 253–265
Zhang H-L, Huang Y, Lin L-L et al (2013) The phylogeny of Orthoptera (Insecta) as
deduced from mitogenomic gene sequences. Zool Stud 52:37
[Crossref]
Clelia Ferreira
Email: [email protected]
Carlos P. Silva
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Food may be acquired by biting with chewing parts, sucking by pierce-sucking
mouthparts, or by ingesting a pre-digested or pre-dispersed meal. Digestion is a
stepwise process by which the molecules of food are hydrolyzed into components
able to be absorbed. The first step of digestion is the initial digestion, when food
polymers result in oligomers, followed by the second step, intermediary digestion,
corresponding to the conversion of oligomers into dimers and, finally, the third
step, final digestion, in which the dimers are cleaved into monomers that are
absorbed. The gut morphology varies among insect taxa from the basal plan
formed by a capacious crop followed by a midgut with anteriorly placed ceca,
ending in a hindgut. The midgut has inside an anatomical chitin-protein film, the
peritrophic membrane (PM), that separates two luminal compartments:
endoperitrophic (inside PM) and ectoperitrophic (outside PM) spaces. In
polyneopterans and lower holometabolans, the enzymes of initial and
intermediary digestion move freely inside the midgut, whereas in higher
holometabolans, only the enzymes of initial digestion traverse PM into the
endoperitrophic space. The enzymes of intermediary digestion are retained in the
ectoperitrophic space because they are larger than the PM pores (7–9 nm dia).
There are midgut countercurrent fluxes caused by the secretion of fluid in a
posterior region and its absorption in an anterior region. These countercurrent
fluxes decrease the loss of enzymes by excretion as part of the enhancement of
digestive efficiency caused by the compartmentalization of digestion. The sites of
water and nutrient absorption are identified with the use of a non-absorbable dye
and nutrients. The concentration of dye indicates water removal, its dilution
indicates water secretion, whereas a change in the ratio of nutrient and dye
indicates nutrient absorption.
Table 2.1 Representative digestive enzymes in salivary glands and different gut sites of Abracris
flavolineata (Orthoptera) adults
Foregut Midgut
Enzyme Salivary gland Crop Caeca Ventriculus Hindgut
Amylase 5.3 40.5 39.2 12.9 7.4
Trypsin 0.03 30.4 40.3 21.4 7.9
Maltase 0.09 54.0 26.0 10.8 9.2
Aminopeptidase 0.11 23.0 49.0 20.9 7.1
Trehalase 11.1 20.5 17.0 32.0 20.7
Data according to Ferreira et al. (1990). Figures are % activity in relation to total
gut
Liquid food usually is nectar, blood, or plant sap. Nectar is taken by lapping up
(bees) or sucking (adult lepidopterans) mouthparts. Blood is acquired with
piercing-sucking mouthparts in a fast and painless process to avoid host reaction
thanks to the presence in the saliva of analgesics, vasodilators, and anticoagulants,
but without digestive enzymes (Arca and Ribeiro 2018). Plant sap is taken by
hemipterans with the aid of pierce-sucking mouthparts. Their mouthparts consist
in a stylet that are used to penetrate the diet and have two channels: one for
injecting salivary fluids and another for the inflow of the diet. Sap-sucking
hemipterans have a kind of saliva that form a sheath surrounding the stylets and
another containing enzymes to facilitate access to the plant conducting vessels
(Walker 2003). This is usually known as the stylet-ensheath mechanism (see
other details in Chap. 13). As this mechanism is one kind of extraoral digestion,
this will be detailed below.
Extraoral (or preoral) digestion is the enzymatic treatment of food before
ingestion. This strategy is used mostly by predaceous insects, which usually
regurgitate midgut contents over the prey (reflux extraoral digestion) and after a
while re-ingest the partially digested material from the prey (Cohen 1995; Canton
and Bonning 2020). Enzymes involved in the reflux extraoral digestion include all
enzymes found in the midgut luminal contents, which are those responsible for
initial and intermediary digestion. This was shown, for example, by stimulating
predaceous larvae of Pyrearinus termitilluminans with balls of absorbent paper.
After several attempts, the larvae attack the paper balls and regurgitate over
them. The digestive enzymes recovered from the balls were qualitatively and
quantitatively the same as those occurring in midgut contents. Enzymes carrying
final digestion are restricted to midgut cells (Colepicolo-Neto et al. 1986).
Another type of preoral digestion (non-reflux extraoral digestion) is actually a
dispersion of the tissues of the prey (either animal or vegetal) by digesting the
intercellular cement with digestive fluids produced and secreted by specialized
organs, usually the salivary glands (Cohen 1995; Canton and Bonning 2020). This
kind of preoral digestion is found mainly among hemipterans. In the plant sap–
feeding hemipterans, the enzymes usually employed to assist in plant penetration
by breaking the extracellular matrices are mainly pectinases, glucanases, and
cellulases (Sharma et al. 2014; Tan et al. 2016). Some metalloprotease are able to
degrade the sieve tube proteins occur in aphid saliva, improving nutrition by
complementing the usually poor phloem sap (Canton and Bonning 2020).
Phytophagous Heteroptera are not sap feeders and they access their plant diet in
a lacerate and flush mechanism, which consists of the repeated insertion and
withdrawal of the stylet. The pierced plant tissue is then flushed with saliva that
disperses it employing the same kind of enzymes as the sap feeders. Predaceous
hemipterans disperse the tissues of their preys by a lacerate and flush mechanism
with enzymes like salivary collagenase that degrades the fibers of collagen, one of
the constituents of the extracellular matrix in animals. The once-ingested tissue
fragments of preys (observed in midgut contents) are further digested in the
midgut (Fialho et al. 2012).
The evolutionary advantage of the extraoral digestion in comparison with the
acquisition of food by biting the prey and ingesting it in piece meals is that it
avoids the ingestion of indigestible tissues as the arthropod exoskeletons and
perhaps also provides a defense against pathogens and noxious chemicals in the
diet. In the case of sap and phytophagous hemipterans, saliva may also contain
proteins affecting plant defenses, like a calcium-binding protein that suppresses
phloem sieve occlusion to prevent sap loss following injury (Will et al. 2007,
2009).
Finally, there is another form of extraoral digestion found among wood-
feeding Siricidae (Hymenoptera). The larvae of these insects have modified mouth
parts that press fungus-attacked xylem and squeeze out the nutritious material
that is subsequently ingested and further digested (Thompson et al. 2014).
Fig. 2.1 Generalized diagram of the insect gut showing the sites of important digestive events
and water fluxes (dotted arrows) and the circulation of digestive enzymes (solid arrows)
Fig. 2.2 Major insect gut types. Ad adult, AV anterior ventriculus (midgut), C crop, Co colon, E
esophagus, F fermentation chamber, FC filter chamber, G midgut (gastric) ceca, I ileum, La larva, M
Malpighian tubules, MgP midgut protuberances, MgT midgut tubules, Mx Mixed segment, P
proventriculus, Pa paunch, P1-5 hindgut regions in termites, PV posterior ventriculus, R rectum, U
ureter, V ventriculus. Not drawn to scale. (Based partly in Terra WR (1988). Physiology and
biochemistry of insect digestion: An evolutionary perspective. Braz J Med Biol Res 21: 675–734)
Gut morphology varies widely among insects from different orders and
between the larvae and adults in most holometabolan insects. As we are
interested in insect digestion and absorption, emphasis will be given only to the
insect stages that are notorious feeders. From this point of view, young and adult
forms of Polyneoptera and Condylognatha perform similarly and have similar gut
morphologies, whereas among the holometabolan, except for some blood- and
pollen-feeders only the larval forms will be considered (Fig. 2.2). Those interested
in a more detailed presentation of gut morphologies should consult Snodgrass
(1935), Chapman (1985), and Simpson and Douglas (2013).
Polyneoptera insects have a capacious crop and anteriorly placed midgut ceca,
which are absent from Dictyoptera Termitidae and Mantodea (Fig. 2.2a–f). The
enlargement of hindgut structures in Dictyoptera Blattodea and Termitidae that
are involved in dealing with wood and other cellulosic materials is noticeable (see
Chaps. 10 and 13). Phasmatodea have a kind of posteriorly placed midgut ceca
resembling Malpighian tubules known as midgut tubules supposed to be active in
midgut alkalization (Monteiro et al. 2014) (Fig. 2.2a–f).
Hemipterans lack PM, crops, and anteriorly placed midgut ceca (Fig. 2.2g–i).
Some Pentatomomorpha have posteriorly placed midgut ceca in contact with the
anterior parts of the ventriculus (Fig. 2.2i) and are assumed to have a function
similar to the filter chamber of Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha insects
(Goodchild 1963). The filter chamber is a structure formed by the apposition of
the posterior midgut and the proximal ends of the Malpighian tubules to the
anterior midgut, thus facilitating the passage of water directly from the anterior
midgut to the Malpighian tubules, resulting in the concentration of dilute food (Le
Cahérec et al. 1997).
Holometabola guts are variable. Megaloptera and primitive Coleoptera have
crops but lack anteriorly placed midgut ceca, with exceptions like Coleoptera
Dermestidae (Caldeira et al. 2007). Except for some adult insects (Hymenoptera
Apidae, Diptera Culicidae, and Lepidoptera), holometabolous insects do not have
crops. Anteriorly placed midgut ceca are only found in mosquitoes and midges.
Coleoptera Scarabaeidae have midgut ceca organized in rings along the midgut
(Fig. 2.2l) and Hymenoptera Tenthredinoidea have a ring of ceca disposed in U
format in the ventral side of the anterior midgut (Fig. 2.2n). In both cases, the ceca
are thought to be involved in the alkalization of midgut contents (see details in
Chap. 6).
Data according to Terra et al. (1985) (Coleoptera), Terra et al. (1979) (Diptera),
and Ferreira et al. (1994) (Lepidoptera). Figures are % activity of total midgut and
in parentheses are specific activities (mUnits/ mg protein)
Ecto contents ectoperitrophic contents, endo contents endoperitrophic contents; −
not determined
FIM.
NOTAS DE RODAPÉ:
[1] A Cidade de Tripoli na Barbaria.
[2] O Bachá de Tripoli José Caramali.
[3] O Chefe de Divisão Donald Campbell.
[4] ElRei de Hespanha.
[5] O Grão Turco, a quem hé subordinado o Bachá.
[6] Carlos XII. de Suecia.