Carrel J E, McCairel M H, Slagle A J, Doom J P, Brill J, McCormick J P
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211.
Experientia. 1993 Feb 15;49(2):171-4. doi: 10.1007/BF01989424.
Cantharidin, a potent defensive chemical, is present in all ten life stages of the blister beetle Epicauta funebris. The first five larval stages accumulate cantharidin as they feed and grow in size. When disturbed, they exude cantharidin in a milky oral fluid, not in hemolymph which adult beetles reflexively discharge from leg joints. Two subsequent larval stages and the pupa do not feed, grow, regurgitate, or change in their defensive reserves (110 micrograms cantharidin/insect, regardless of sex). Adult beetles kept in isolation for 60-90 d exhibit a pronounced sexual dimorphism in cantharidin production: the male biosynthesizes about 17 mg of the toxin, representing 10% of his live weight, whereas the female actually loses most of her defensive reserves. But in the wild a female beetle repeatedly acquires cantharidin as copulatory gifts from her mates.
斑蝥素，一种强效的防御性化学物质，存在于豆芫菁（Epicauta funebris）的所有十个生命阶段。前五个幼虫阶段在取食和生长过程中积累斑蝥素。受到干扰时，它们会从乳白色的口腔分泌液中排出斑蝥素，而不是像成年甲虫那样从腿关节中反射性地排出血淋巴。随后的两个幼虫阶段和蛹不进食、不生长、不反刍，其防御储备也没有变化（无论性别，每只昆虫含110微克斑蝥素）。单独饲养60 - 90天的成年甲虫在斑蝥素产生方面表现出明显的性别二态性：雄性生物合成约17毫克这种毒素，占其体重的10%，而雌性实际上失去了大部分防御储备。但在野外，雌性甲虫会多次从配偶那里获得作为交媾礼物的斑蝥素。
