The effects of unilateral antennectomy on the flight behaviour of male Heliothis virescens in a pheromone plume

Abstract .Unilaterally antennectomized Heliothis virescens (F.) males flying close to the central axis of a plume of sex pheromone display no significant differences in behaviour compared to sham-operated males in course angles, track angles, airspeed and groundspeed. This demonstrates that right/left antennal information is not necessary for normal orientation movements in response to pheromone, but rather that it is 'blended' within the moth's central nervous system before pheromone-mediated manoeuvres are made. However, some unilaterally antennectomized moths (36%) make repetitive, asymmetrical, saw-tooth-shaped tracks during pheromone-mediated upwind progress, whereas control moths never make such tracks. Unilaterally antennectomized moths made such tracks on the side of the plume contralateral to the missing antenna. We hypothesize that these occasional asymmetrical tracks in unilaterally ablated males are the result of reiterative asymmetrical pheromone stimulation of a higher probability on track legs going toward rather than away from the long axis of the plume on males with a single antenna remaining on the 'away from axis' side. Combined with a greater propensity for treated moths to lock onto the plume away from the central axis on one side rather than the other, repetitive successive asymmetrical track legs (resulting in a saw-tooth-shaped track) are commonly observed in these moths. Control moths do also make asymmetric successive track legs but they rarely are repeated and thus are not readily observed.     

Actuarial senescence in laboratory and field populations of Lepidoptera

1. Recent observations of actuarial senescence – an increase in mortality rate with age – have challenged the assertion that the brevity of adult insect life spans precludes ageing. 2. Here the rate of senescence in 22 species of Lepidoptera was quantified by fitting demographic models to adult survivorship data drawn from a range of field and laboratory studies. 3. Senescence was evident in all 22 species investigated, with a model of age‐related mortality consistently fitting the survivorship curves significantly better than an alternative model which assumes constant mortality. 4. The rates of senescence varied significantly among species. The rates of senescence also differed significantly between sexes for all species tested, but not in a consistent way.     

追溯山茱萸科植物的性状进化和生物地理学历史——方法选择的影响?

This study compares results on reconstructing the ancestral state of characters and ancestral areas of distribution in Cornaceae to gain insights into the impact of using different analytical methods. Ancestral character state reconstructions were compared among three methods (parsimony, maximum likelihood, and stochastic character mapping) using MESQUITE and a full Bayesian method in BAYESTRAITS and inferences of ancestral area distribution were compared between the parsimony-based dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA) and a newly developed maximum likelihood (ML) method. Results indicated that among the six inflorescence and fruit characters examined, "perfect" binary characters (no homoplasy, no polymorphism within terminals, and no missing data) are little affected by choice of method, while homoplasious characters and missing data are sensitive to methods used. Ancestral areas at deep nodes of the phylogeny are substantially different between DIVA and ML and strikingly different between analyses including and excluding fossils at three deepest nodes. These results, while raising caution in making conclusions on trait evolution and historical biogeography using conventional methods, demonstrate a limitation in our current understanding of character evolution and biogeography. The biogeographic history favored by the ML analyses including fossils suggested the origin and early radiation of Cornus likely occurred in the late Cretaceous and earliest Tertiary in Europe and intercontinental disjunctions in three lineages involved movements across the North Atlantic Land Bridge (BLB) in the early and mid Tertiary. This result is congruent with the role of NALB for post-Eocene migration and in connecting tropical floras in North America and Africa, and in eastern Asia and South America. However, alternative hypotheses with an origin in eastern Asia and early Trans-Beringia migrations of the genus cannot be ruled out.     

SLUG DAMAGE AND NUMBER OF SLUGS (GASTROPODA: PULMONATA) IN WINTER WHEAT IN FIELDS WITH SOWN WILDFLOWER STRIPS

Previous observations have shown that slugs found favourableconditions for reproduction in wildflower strips and that theycaused high damage to oilseed rape adjacent to the strips. Inthe current study slug numbers and damage were estimated inwildflower strips and at different distances from the stripsinto winter wheat crops, from 1994 to 1996. Slug damage wasestimated using an index of defoliation and slug numbers andactivity were measured using wheat bran traps. Investigationsbegan when winter wheat seedlings emerged and lasted for fiveweeks. Slug damage was never severe in any of the fields studied.In most fields, slug damage was higher close to the wildflowerstrips than at greater distances from the strips. The decliningslug damage with increasing distances from the wildflowers stripswas related to the distribution pattern of juvenile Arion lusitanicus,suggesting that this species was responsible for the higherdamage near the strips. Other slug species (Deroceras reticulatum,Arion fasciatus, Deroceras laeve) were more or less evenly distributedover the field or were almost entirely confined to the wildflowerstrips. Results showed that winter wheat was not at risk fromslug feeding in spite of the establishment of wildflower stripsand that therefore the application of molluscicide along thestrips is unnecessary. (Received 23 June 1997; accepted 17 October 1997)     

Effect of heat on zoospore motility and multiplication of Olpidium radicale and O. brassicae

Whereas zoospores of six cultures of O. brassicae were immobile after treating in glycine solution at 35–40°C for 10 min, those of a cucurbit culture of O. radicale were immobile only after heating at 45°C. Further, O. radicale multiplied in cucumber at 20°, 30° and 35°C, whereas O. brassicae multiplied at 20°, but not 30° or 35°C. Such differences in reaction to temperature might sometimes be useful in separating mixtures of the two species in common hosts such as cucumber.     

Diel activity patterns of blood-seeking anthropophilic mosquitoes in central Sweden

1. Blood-seeking diel activity cycles of mosquitoes are described from 24 h landing catches on human bait in a field and a forest habitat during June-August in central Sweden. 2. Daytime activity in the field was low or absent, whilst in the forest activity was relatively even throughout the diel. 3. In both habitats, activity peaks generally occurred about sunset and sunrise and were more distinct in the field than in the forest. 4. Data from this and other studies show that, in general, Aedes cinereus Meigen feeds at night in field-type habitats and Ae.communis (DeGeer) during the diurnal-crepuscular period in forest and woodland habitats. 5. Although abundant in the study area, Anopheles maculipennis Meigen sensu lato, Culex pipiens L., Cx torrentium Martini and Culiseta morsitans (Theobald) were not caught on the human bait. This is because, in central Sweden, An.maculipennis s.l. is mainly feeding in animal sheds whereas the others are ornithophagous. 6. Ae.geniculatus (Olivier) was recorded from central Sweden for the first time. 7. Blood feeding success (proportion of mosquitoes that managed to obtain blood from the human bait) was significantly greater in Ae.cinereus (14.9%) than in Ae.punctor (Kirby), Ae.communis and Ae.annulipes (Meigen) (2.8-0.7%). 8. The data are interpreted in relation to the transmission of Ockelbo disease (caused by Sindbis virus) and tularaemia in Sweden.