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Ultrastructure of the midgut in Heteroptera (Hemiptera) with different feeding habits

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Abstract

Heteroptera have diverse feeding habits with phytophagous, zoophagous, and haematophagous species. This dietary diversity associated with the monophyly of Heteroptera makes these insects a good object for comparative studies of the digestive tract. This work compares the ultrastructure of the middle midgut region in the phytophagous Coptosoma scutellatum (Plataspidae), Graphosoma lineatum (Pentatomidae), Kleidocerys resedae (Lygaeidae), and zoophagous Rhynocoris iracundus (Reduviidae), Nabis rugosus (Nabidae), and Himacerus apterus (Nabidae), to verify if diet affects midgut cells in phylogenetically related insects. The middle region of the midgut was used for comparison because it is the main site for digestion and absorption of the midgut. The digestive cell ultrastructure was similar in the six species, with features of secretory, absorptive, transport, storage, and excretory cells, suggesting a stronger correlation of middle digestive cell ultrastructure with the phylogeny of these species than with the different heteropteran feeding habits.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Brazilian funding agencies: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos FINEP, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). We would like to also thank the Microscopy and Microanalysis Center of UFV by the use of equipment and technical assistance and Karen Salazar Niño for the production of digestive cells illustrations. We are grateful to Magdalena Rosińska (University of Silesia, Poland) for her technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa-UFV, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Helen Pinto Santos & José Eduardo Serrão

  2. Department of Animal Histology and Embryology, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

    Magdalena Rost-Roszkowska

  3. Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Charles University, Vinicna 7, 128 44, Prague 2, Czechia

    Jitka Vilimova

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  1. Helen Pinto Santos
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  2. Magdalena Rost-Roszkowska
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  3. Jitka Vilimova
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  4. José Eduardo Serrão
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Correspondence to José Eduardo Serrão.

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Santos, H.P., Rost-Roszkowska, M., Vilimova, J. et al. Ultrastructure of the midgut in Heteroptera (Hemiptera) with different feeding habits. Protoplasma 254, 1743–1753 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-016-1051-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-016-1051-2

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