‘Paper Factor’ as an Inhibitor of the Metamorphosis of the Red Cotton Bug, Dysdercus koenigii F.

Abstract

MATERIALS composed of American paper-pulp have been shown to contain an extractable, heat-stable lipid which exhibits high juvenile hormone activity when topically applied or otherwise brought into contact with the European bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus L. (Heteroptera; Pyrrhocoridae^1,2). The active principle is synthesized by certain species of pulp trees—more particularly, the American balsam fir (Abies balsamea). The ‘paper factor’ (PF) proves to be an extremely potent analogue of the juvenile hormone of Pyrrhocoris apterus³. Yet, so far, it has proved completely inactive when tested on other laboratory insects including two other species of Heteroptera—Oncopeltus fasciatus (Lygaeidae) and Rhodnius prolixus (Reduviidae)^1,2.