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Untersuchungen über die chemische Zusammensetzung einiger Insektenfette

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Summary

The body fat of honey bee Apis mellifica L. was investigated in different stages of life and physiological states (nutrition and activity in the social state): freshly-hatched bees, wax-producing-, forager-, and winterbees. Typical representatives of other insect orders with different modes of nutrition (and of basic energy-supplying metabolic processes) were compared in comparable physiological states: freshly-hatched Calliphora erythrocephala Meig., Tenebrio molitor L., and Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.

For the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of the insect fat a simple method is given by which the following results were achieved:

  1. 1.

    The nearly constant proportion of the total lipid of the bees amounts to nearly 9 per cent of the dry weight. Only the wax-producing bees, because of their activity, show a higher value. The proportion of fat, strictly speaking of the total lipid, show variations among the bees, while the proportion of phosphatids remain at a nearly constant 3 per cent.

  2. 2.

    The iodine number increases from the freshly-hatched bees up to the forager bees and falls again nearly to the half with the winterbees. The acid number is maximal in the wax-producing bees and lies approximately one third lower in the winter. The saponification number always remains equal.

  3. 3.

    By the chromatography a qualitatively constant composition of the fatty acids is achieved among all bees. In the satured fraction are shown: lauric acid (C12), palmitic acid (C16), and stearic acid (C18); in the unsatured fraction only C12- and C18-acids were found.

  4. 4.

    From the quantitative differences is concluded that the proportion of wax and the hibernation need a increased metabolism of fat, which affects the whole body fat and which can be equalized only by the natural food.

  5. 5.

    In the lipid analysis of the other insects, Calliphora shows a total lipid proportion of 12.7 per cent, including 3.5 per cent phosphatids; Tenebrio contains 16.2 per cent (with 2 per cent phosphatids), and Schistocerca 18.6 per cent (with 3 per cent phosphatids).

  6. 6.

    With Calliphora in the satured fraction is found only palmitic acid and stearic acid. The C14- and C20-acids, as well as the C16- and C18-acids, which are demonstrated in the unsatured fraction, are interpreted as a result of the nutrition of the Calliphora larvae. Tenebrio and Schistocerca show also only satured C16- and C18-acids, but in the unsatured fraction C12- as well as C16- (only with Tenebrio) and C18-acids.

  7. 7.

    The four representatives of the different insect orders are compared by the qualitative and quantitative values of the analysis and the attempt has been made to interpret the results in connection with the nutrition and the different basic metabolic processes of these species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologischen Institut der Universität in München, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

    Gerd Albrecht

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Frau Professor Dr. R. Beutler danke ich für die Anregung zu dieser Arbeit und für ihre wertvollen Ratschläge. Ebenso danke ich Herrn Professor Dr. H. Autrum, der mir nach dem Tode von Frau Prof. Dr. R. Beutler die Fortführung meiner Arbeit am Zoologischen Institut der Universität München ermöglichte, und Herrn Professor Dr. E. Klenk vom Chemisch-Physiologischen Institut der Universität Köln für seine wertvollen Ratschläge bei der Zusammenstellung der Methoden in dieser Arbeit.

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Albrecht, G. Untersuchungen über die chemische Zusammensetzung einiger Insektenfette. Z. Vergl. Physiol. 44, 487–508 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297867

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