Variations in lipid content of the boll weevil during metamorphosis

When neutral lipids and phospholipids of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis, were studied during the larval-pupal ecdysis, the volume of lipids was found to increase until the pupal stage when it underwent a small decrease. The opposite was true for the phospholipids. The neutral lipids were high in palmitic, palmitaleic, and oleic acids; the phospholipids had large amounts of stearic and linoleic acids. Also, the composition of the phospholipids was qualitatively similar in the larval, pharate pupal, and pupal stages though the larval stage was marked by a predominance of phosphatidyl ethanolamine and a high concentration of linoleic acid in the phosphatidyl choline.