‘Compensatory Hyper-regeneration’ in the Antennæ of Hemiptera

Abstract

IT has been observed by several authors¹ that antennæ of various Hemiptera, especially Lygaeidae, occasionally exhibit an abnormality in which the number of antennal segments is reduced but at the same time the length of the remaining ones is increased, as if the loss of one segment were compensated by an exaggerated growth of the rest. I have presented evidence² indicating that such cases in the Pentatomid bug Raphigaster nebulosa must be due to an incomplete regeneration after the loss of a normal antenna during nymphal stages, but so far neither experimental evidence for this nor a satisfactory explanation of the ‘compensatory’ nature of the abnormalities has been available. (Dr. H. Ruckes, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, tells me that he has produced such ‘compensatory hyper-regeneration’ experimentally on antennæ of the Pentatomid bug Euchistus variolarius, but his findings have not been published.)