Creatonotus transiens

A further finding concerns the stereochemistry of HD and its derivation from PA. Both HD and the primary PAs (monocrotaline, usaramine) that we know to be available to Utetheisa in the field are of the same (7R) stereochemical configuration. It was therefore not surprising to find that Utetheisa is unable to convert a PA of opposite (7S) stereochemistry (heliotrine) into HD. However, we found another arctiid moth, the Asian species Creatonotus transiens, which also produces HD in its coremata, to be able to use 7R and 7S PAs interchangeably for HD production (31). We are tempted to conclude that Creatonotus, unlike Utetheisa, has dietary access to PAs of both stereochemical configurations in its environment. 

Larval PA sequestration, similar to that in U. omatrix, is common within the Arctiidae (Table 7.1). Arctiid larvae, as exemplified by Creatonotus transiens and Tyria jacobaeae, feed on plants with PAs predominantly in the A-oxide form. The A-oxides are reduced to the lipophilic free bases in the midgut and are passively absorbed (Hartmann and Ober, 2000 but see Wink and Schneider, 1988). The free bases are then reoxidized by a soluble NADPH-dependent mixed function... 

Creatonotus transiens Polyphagous Larva Hodal coremata Abdominal (4) Schneider et al., 1982 Bell et al., 1984 ... 

Egalhaaf, A., Coelln, K., Schmitz, B Buck, M Wink, M. and Schneider, D. (1990). Organ specific storage of dietary pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the arctiid moth Creatonotus transiens. Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung 45c 172-177. 

Wunderer, H Hansen, K Bell, T. W., Schneider, D. and Meinwald, J. (1986). Sex pheromones of two Asian moths (Creatonotus transiens, C. gangis Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) behavior, morphology, chemistry and electrophysiology. Experimental Biology 46 11-27. 

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