The triglycerides of Heliothis virescens (F.), the tobacco budworm, reared on a semidefined diet, were examined at different stages of development. The distribution of triglyceride carbon numbers and the composition of triglyceride fatty acids were determined by gas‐liquid chromatographic analysis of intact triglycerides and methyl esters. Triglycerides of carbon number 50 decreased in the unfed adults with age; the decrease corresponded with a decrease in palmitic acid. Linoleic acid and carbon number 50 exhibited fluctuations in concentrations that were correlated with metamorphosis. The observed changes in specific triglyceride carbon numbers with a simultaneous change in specific triglyceride fatty acids indicate a nonrandom fatty acid distribution in the triglycerides of this insect.
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Wood et al. (1969) studied this question.
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