Haemopoietic organs and effect of their ablation on total haemocyte count in lemon-butterfly, Papilio demoleus L.

ABSTRACT

The haemopoietic organs in Vth instar larvae of P. demoleus are in the form of thin transparent cellular sheets, closely wrapped around the base of each wing-pad. Three cell types viz; prohaemocytes, plasmatocytes and oenocytoids appear to be derived from these organs and their ablation caused a reduction in cell number which, in turn, revealed that the haemocytes in general are derived both from the haemopoietic organs as well as from the circulating blood cells.