Comparative study of structure and function of blood cells from two Drosophila species.

Hemocytes of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila yakuba larvae have been defined in terms of their ultrastructure and functions in "coagulation", wound healing, encapsulation, phenol-oxidase activity, and phagocytosis. The position of these cells among the classical hemocyte types of insects is determined. We distinguish two plasmatocyte types (macrophage-plasmatocytes and lamellocytes) which do not seem to belong to the same lineage, and oenocytoids which are the crystal cells of the literature.