Allograft transplantation Experiments in the Oriental Hornet Cuticle (In English)*

摘要

Pieces of brown cuticle together with the epidermal layer and with the pigment melanin, or of yellow cuticle including the epidermal layer, bearing xanthines, were excised from the pupae of Oriental hornets, or from young hornets, and reimplanted in the same specimen in transposition (i.e., brown in place of yellow and yellow in place of brown), following which the pupae were reinstalled in their original brood comb cells to recuperate and mature while the adult hornets were placed in special containers to fully recover. In all, 200 pupae at various stages of pupation and 50 young adult hornets were operated upon. Of the pupae that underwent the transplantation procedure, the ones that survived were primarily those that were operated upon a day or two before their eclosion whereas the less developed pupae, i.e. younger pupae, did not survive, nor did any of the adult hornets. In total, only about 5% of the treated pupae and none of the treated adults survived. In the survivors, the pieces of brown cuticle that were successfully implanted in the region of yellow cuticle retain their original brown color. Contrariwise, the yellow pieces transplanted lost their yellow pigment as well as their transparency within a few days. The durability of the hornets that survived the transplantation procedure was ratter brief – not more than a couple of weeks – and after their eclosion they were very irritable and aggressive but insofar as their mobility, they walked and flew just like normal intact hornets [ Acta Zoologica Sinica 51(6): 1146 –1150, 2005] .