Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-bvgqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T17:15:37.380Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The significance of moonlight in photoperiodic responses of insects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

John Bowden
John Bowden
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts., England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the tropics, the amount and the pattern of distribution of moonlight at and just after full moon produces alternating periods of continuous illumination and darkness which could provide photoperiodic cues for insects. Examples of possible photoperiodic effects induced by moonlight, taken from the published literature, include the flight activity and oviposition patterns shown by females of Heliothis zea (Boddie) and Diatraea saccharalis (F.) and crepuscular activity of mosquitoes. It is suggested that photoperiodic responses to moonlight could form the basis for a simple method of predicting such events.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , July 1973 , pp. 605 - 612
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alam, M. M. & Hudson, J. C. (1969). Fluctuations in the population of Diatraea saccharalis (F.) in Barbados. Results of light trapping.—Proc. West Indian Sugar Technol. Conf. (1969), 193–198.Google Scholar
Beck, S. D. (1968). Insect photoperiodism.—288 pp. London, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bowden, J. (1964). The relation of activity of two species of Belostomatidae to rainfall and moonlight in Ghana (Hemiptera: Heteroptera).—J. ent. Soc. sth. Afr. 26, 293–301.Google Scholar
Bowden, J. (1973). The effect of moonlight on catches of insects in light-traps in Africa. Part I. The moon and moonlight.—Bull. ent. Res. 63.Google Scholar
Caspers, H. (1951). Rhythmische Erscheinungen in der Fortpflanzung von Clunio marinus (Dipt., Chiron.) und das Problem der lunaren Periodizität bei Organismen.—Arch. Hydrobiol. Suppl. 18, 415–594.Google Scholar
De Wilde, J. & Bonga, H. (1958). Observations on threshold intensity sensitivity to different wavelengths of photoperiodic responses in the Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say).—Entomologia exp. appl. 1, 301–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Explanatory supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris (1961).—505 pp. London, H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Fisk, F. W. & Perez, R. P. (1969). Flight activity of the sugar cane borer, Diatraea saccharalis, in Puerto Rico.—J. Agric. Univ. P. Rico 53, 93–99.Google Scholar
Fryer, G. (1959). Lunar rhythm of emergence, differential behaviour of the sexes, and other phenomena in the African midge, Chironomus brevibucca (Kieff.).—Bull. ent. Res. 50, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillett, J. D. (1971). Mosquitos.—274 pp. London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson.Google Scholar
Haddow, A. J. & Corbet, P. S. (1961). Entomological studies from a high tower in Mpanga Forest, Uganda. V. Swarming activity above the forest.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 113, 284–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartland-Rowe, R. (1955). Lunar rhythm in the emergence of an Ephemeropteran.—Nature, Lond. 176, 657.Google Scholar
Hartland-Rowe, R. (1958). The biology of a tropical mayfly, Povilla adusta Navas (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcidae) with special reference to the lunar rhythm of emergence.—Rev. Zool. Bot. afr. 58, 185–202.Google Scholar
Hauenschild, C. (1960). Lunar periodicity.—Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 25, 491–497.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hora, S. L. (1967). Lunar periodicity in the reproduction of insects.—J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Beng. (n.s.). 23, 339–341.Google Scholar
Kimball, H. H. (1916). The duration and intensity of twilight.—Mon. Weath. Rev. U.S. Dep. Agric. 44, 614–620.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1955). The physiology of diapause in arthropods.—150 pp. Cambridge, University Press.Google Scholar
MacDonald, W. W. (1956). Observations on the biology of Chaoborids and Chironomids in Lake Victoria and on the feeding habits of the “elephant-snout fish” (Mormyrus kannune Forsk.).—J. Anim. Ecol. 25, 36–53.Google Scholar
Minnaert, M. (1954). The nature of light and colour in the open air.—362 pp. New York, Dover.Google Scholar
Nemec, S. J. (1971). Effects of lunar phases on light-trap collections and populations of bollworm moths.—J. econ. Ent. 64, 860–864.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E. T. & Nielsen, H. T. (1963). The swarming habits of some Danish mosquitoes.—Ent. Meddr. 32, 99–170.Google Scholar
Provost, M. W. (1958). Mating and male swarming in Psorophora mosquitoes.—Int. Congr. Ent. 2, 553–561.Google Scholar
Provost, M. W. (1959). The influence of moonlight on light-trap catches of mosquitoes.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 52, 261–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, C. B. (1936). The influence of moonlight on the activity of certain nocturnal insects, particularly of the family Noctuidae, as indicated by a light trap.—Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 226, 357–389.Google Scholar
Williams, C. B., Singh, B. P. & El-Ziady, S. (1956). An investigation into the possible effects of moonlight on the activity of insects in the field.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 31, 135–144.Google Scholar