Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
In laboratory experiments with Dysdercus fasciatus Sign, systematic testing of the stylets with a sucrose solution and distilled water has shown that the receptors mediating the salivary response to sucrose are located either on the maxillary stylets or at some site internal to them. Electronmicroscopical examination showed that the maxillary stylets were not innervated, and histological evidence further suggested the epipharyngeal organ as the site of gustatory discrimination. Dendrites located in the mandibular sclerites by means of the electron microscope could possibly have a proprioceptor function.