Abstract
MOST insects have freezing points only a degree or two below 0° C., but can be supercooled to much lower temperatures1. When supercooling points as low as –47° C. were recorded2 for overwintering larvæ of Bracon cephi (Gahan), a parasite of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort., abnormally low freezing points were expected because water is highly unlikely to supercool3 more than 40 deg. C. Freezing points (determined as melting points1) of the hæmolymph of these larvæ ranged from −7° to −17° C. These values were closely related to the corresponding supercooling points of the intact insects, which were 28–30 deg. C. lower. This uniform amount of supercooling conforms with Lusena's findings4 with aqueous solutions of sodium chloride and glycerol.
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References
Salt, R. W., Canad. J. Zool., 34, 1 (1956).
Salt, R. W., Canad. J. Zool., 84, 283 (1956).
Mason, B. J., Sci. Progr., 44, 479 (1956).
Lusena, C. V., Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 57, 277 (1955).
Salt, R. W., Canad. Ent., 89, 491 (1957).
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SALT, R. Role of Glycerol in producing Abnormally Low Supercooling and Freezing Points in an Insect, Bracon cephi (Gahan). Nature 181, 1281 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1811281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1811281a0
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