and Hoffmann, 2007). Insects are by no means immunologically bereft though. They have a number of other effective defense components not seen in many other organisms. They have elaborate cascades of CLIP-serine proteases that mediate and coordinate phagocytosis, nodule formation, encapsulation, and AMP formation, and they can deposit layers of melanin around foreign objects (Kanost et al., 2004) . They engage multimeric fibrinogen-related proteins (FREPs) in parasite recognition (Dong and Dimopoulos, 2009 ) and employ Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam), a member of the IgSF, in antigen recognition. Tens of thousands of Dscam isoforms can potentially be generated by alternative splicing (Schmucker and Chen, 2009 ) and parasite challenge-specific Dscam splice form repertoires can be produced (Dong et al., 2006) .