[Comparison of the effects of ecdysone and ecdysterone on moulting in the insect Rhodnius prolixus (Stål) (Hemiptera Ruduviidae)].

The allatectomy in the 4th instar larvae of Rhodnius prolixus stops moulting in 93 per cent of the cases. A different type of moulting results in these larvae after the injection of ecdysone or ecdysterone. The ecdysterone induced a rapid apolysis with a new adultoid cuticle tending towards larval but with the ecdysone, apolysis occurred at normal times and the cuticle secreted was strongly adultoid.