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Abstract

In insects, hormones are involved in the regulation of behavior to a greater extent than in other invertebrate or vertebrate groups. This extensive adoption of hormonal involvement in the function of the nervous system may be partially due to size restrictions and to the rich behavioral repertoires which insects characteristically show. Hormones, with their ability to reach every cell in the nervous system, are capable of causing widespread changes in responsiveness and thus of radically changing behavior. The use of this kind of hormonal control instead of more complex neural mechanisms may be a major factor in packing a broad array of behaviors into a small, simplified nervous system.

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© 1974 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Riddiford, L.M., Truman, J.W. (1974). Hormones and Insect Behavior. In: Barton Browne, L. (eds) Experimental Analysis of Insect Behaviour. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-86666-1_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-86666-1_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-86668-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-86666-1

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