State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Integrated Management of the Ministry of Education, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
Sci Rep. 2016 Nov 30;6:38151. doi: 10.1038/srep38151.
Development of the mouthparts in the cicada Meimuna mongolica (Distant) is investigated here for the first time using scanning electron microscopy in order to document changes occurring in different nymphal instars and from nymph to adult, during which a shift from subterranean root-feeding to feeding on aboveground parts of the host plant occurs. The structure and component of mouthparts is similar to those found in other hemipteran insects. Fourteen types of sensilla and five types of cuticular processes were found on the mouthparts of nymphs and adults. Significant general transformations during development include changes in: (a) the size and shape of the labrum from square to long and shovel-shaped; (b) increases in type and quantity of sensilla with the stage of development; (c) the ridges at the tips of the mandiblar stylets become more prominent in later stages of nymphal development, while odontoid protrusions more prominent in the female than in the male of the adult; and (d) the cross section of the stylets is subcircular in nymphal stages but oblong elliptical in the adult. The implications of these mouthpart transformations on the feeding ability of nymphs and adults and their possible relationship to the feeding niche are discussed.
本文首次采用扫描电子显微镜研究蒙古寒蝉（Meimuna mongolica）的口器发育，旨在记录其在不同若虫龄期和从若虫到成虫的形态变化，在此期间，其从地下根系取食转变为取食宿主植物的地上部分。口器的结构和组成与其他半翅目昆虫相似。在若虫和成虫的口器上发现了 14 种感觉器和 5 种表皮突起。发育过程中的显著总体变化包括：（a）上唇从方形变为长而铲形；（b）随着发育阶段的增加，感觉器的类型和数量增加；（c）在若虫发育的后期，下颚刺顶端的脊变得更加突出，而在成年个体中，雌性的齿状突起比雄性更突出；（d）下颚刺的横切面在若虫阶段呈亚圆形，但在成虫阶段呈长椭圆形。讨论了这些口器形态变化对若虫和成虫取食能力的影响及其与取食生态位的可能关系。
