ABSTRACT
In the early years of this century Weinland (1906) conclusively showed that ammonia constitutes the bulk of the nitrogenous excreta of larvae of the blow-fly, Calliphora vomitoria. This was a remarkable observation in a subphylum that was, and still is, considered essentially uricotelic. Pupae and imagines of this species excrete uric acid; Weinland was therefore led to postulate that pupation was basically a physiological change, the change from ammonia to uric acid as the protein catabolite. Twenty-five years later Delaunay (1931), reviewing protein catabolism in invertebrates, quotes Weinland’s work and states that “les larves de Calliphora…n’excrètent pas d’acide urique”.
Copyright © 1936 The Company of Biologists Ltd.
1936
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