- Autor(in)
- Seitenbereich
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245 - 254
- Zusammenfsg.
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Bacteria, animals and plants can be classified into three distinct physiochemical composition groups according to pH, osmotic values and the ratios of inorganic ion concentrations and organic molecule concentrations in their intracellular or extracellular sap. The widespread existence of these types enables a direct comparison between the physiochemical composition of consumers and their food producers. Examples of such relationships are found in the Hemiptera order. Intracellular bacterial symbiosis (endocytobioses) tend to be absent when the insect consumer and food producer belong to the same physiochemical type. If the insect and its food organism differ in type, extra- or intracellular microbial symbiosis usually exist. The conclusion is drawn that endocytobiosis compensates for this difference. The leafhopper species (Cicadina, Homoptera, Hemiptera) are able to develop within their ecological niche only through the aid of their endocytobionts. The essential endocytobionts are passed on to the next generation via the egg. They move into special insect organs (bacteriomes) were they multiply. If the infection of the egg by the endocytobionts is experimentally prevented normal development ceases; only head-thorax embryos without abdomen develop.