Abstract
A small (2.5-cm-wide) vertical (10-cm-high) white object influenced the sex pheromone-mediated flight and landing behaviors of maleEpiphyas postvittana. When the vertical object was positioned on a horizontal surface to the side (3–5 cm) and upwind of a pheromone source (in the middle of the surface), the distribution of landing positions of males on the surface was different from that when the object was not present; males tended to land in positions skewed toward the side of the source that the object was on. The closer the object was positioned to the source, the greater the number of males that landed on the object (rather than on the horizontal surface). This difference in landing positions (when the object was present) corresponded with changes in the flight tracks; the tracks of males flying to the surface with an object were skewed toward the object and had higher amplitude intertrack reversal distances than the tracks of males flying to a surface without a vertical object. Positioning of a vertical object progressively upwind of the source resulted, apparently, in decreased effects on the landing (and presumably flight) behavior of males. The effect of the vertical object on the flight and landing behaviors of males corresponded largely with changes in pheromone plume structure (visualized with smoke) induced by the extra turbulence in the airflow over the source. Thus it appears that the vertical object influences the behavior of maleE. postvittana largely through the olfactory sensory modality. However, when a clear, Mylar object, in place of the white object, was placed on the surface, more males landed on the Mylar object (than did on the white object), suggesting that the vertical object may also influence the behavior of males through the visual modality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker, T. C. (1989). Pheromones and flight behavior. In Goldsworthy, G. J., and Wheeler, C. H. (eds.),Insect Flight, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 231–255.
Baker, T. C., and Haynes, K. F. (1987). Manoeuvres used by flying male Oriental fruit moths to relocate a sex pheromone plume in an experimentally shifted wind-field.Physiol. Entomol. 12: 263–279.
Bellas, T. E., Bartell, R. J., and Hill, A. (1983). Identification of two components of the sex pheromone of the moth,Epiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).J. Chem. Ecol. 9: 503–512.
Borden, J. H., Hunt, D. W. A., Miller, D. R., and Slessor, K. N. (1986). Orientation in forest Coleoptera: An uncertain outcome of responses by individual beetles to variable stimuli. In Payne, T. L., Birch, M. C., and Kennedy, C. E. J. (eds.),Mechanisms in Insect Olfaction, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 97–109.
Cardé, R. T., and Hagaman, T. E. (1984). Mate location strategies of gypsy moths in dense populations.J. Chem. Ecol. 10: 25–31.
Charlton, R. E., and Cardé, R. T. (1990). Orientation of male gypsy moths,Lymantria dispar (L.), to pheromone sources: The role of olfactory and visual cues.J. Insect Behav. 3: 443–469.
David, C. T. (1986). Mechanisms of directional flight in wind. In Payne, T. L., Birch, M. C., and Kennedy, C. E. J. (eds.),Mechanisms in Insect Olfaction, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 49–58.
David, C. T., Kennedy, J. S., and Ludlow, A. R. (1983). Finding of a sex pheromone source by gypsy moths released in the field.Nature 303: 804–806.
Elkinton, J. S., and Cardé, R. T. (1983). Appetitive flight behavior of the gypsy moth.Environ. Entomol. 12: 1702–1707.
Farkas, S. R., Shorey, H. H., and Gaston, L. K. (1974). Sex pheromones of Lepidoptera. Influence of pheromone concentration and visual cues on aerial odor-trail following by males ofPectinophora gosypiella.Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 67: 633–638.
Foster, S. P., and Harris, M. O. (1992). Factors influencing the landing of maleEpiphyas postvittana (Walker) exhibiting pheromone-mediated flight.J. Insect Behav. 5: 699–720.
Foster, S. P., and Muggleston, S. J. (1993). Effect of design of a sex pheromone-baited delta trap on behavior and catch of maleEpiphyas postvittana (Walker).J. Chem. Ecol. 19: 2617–2633.
Foster, S. P., Muggleston, S. J., and Ball, R. D. (1991). Behavioral responses of maleEpiphyas postvittana (Walker) to sex pheromone-baited delta trap in a wind tunnel.J. Chem. Ecol. 17: 1449–1468.
Kennedy, J. S. (1951). The migration of the desert locus (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.). I. The behaviour of swarms. II. A theory of long-range migrations.Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London B 235: 163–290.
Kennedy, J. S. (1983). Zigzagging and casting as a programmed response to wind-borne odour: A review.Physiol. Entomol. 8: 109–120.
Kennedy, J. S., and Marsh, D. (1974). Pheromone-regulated anemotaxis in flying moths.Science 184: 999–1001.
Kuenen, L. P. S., and Baker, T. C. (1982). The effects of pheromone concentration on the flight behaviour of the oriental fruit moth,Grapholitha molesta.Physiol. Entomol. 7: 423–434.
Levinson, H. Z., and Hoppe, T. (1983). Preferential flight ofPlodia interpunctella andCadra cautella (Phycitinae) toward figures of definite shape and position with notes on the interaction between optical and pheromone stimuli.Z. ang. Ent. 96: 491–500.
Mafraneto, A., and Cardé, R. T. (1994). Fine-scale structure of pheromone plumes modulates upwind orientation of flying moths.Nature 369: 142–144.
Marsh, D., Kennedy, J. S., and Ludlow, A. R. (1978). An analysis of anemotactic zigzagging flight in male moths stimulated by pheromone.Physiol. Entomol. 3: 221–240.
Miller, J. R., and Roelofs, W. L. (1978). Sustained-flight tunnel for measuring insect responses to wind-borne sex pheromones.J. Chem. Ecol. 4: 187–198.
Muggleston, S. J., and Foster, S. P. (1989). Sustained-flight tunnel responses of male lightbrown apple moth to synthetic sex pheromone.Physiol. Entomol. 14: 443–449.
Murlis, J., Elkington, J. S., and Cardé, R. T. (1992). Odor plumes and how insects use them.Annu. Rev. Entomol. 37: 505–532.
Richerson, J. V. (1977). Pheromone-mediated behavior of the gypsy moth.J. Chem. Ecol. 3: 291–308.
Singh, P. (1974). A chemically-defined medium for rearingEpiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).N.Z. J. Zool. 1: 241–243.
Torr, S. (1989). The host-orientated behaviour of tsetse flies (Glossina): The interaction of visual and olfactory stimuli.Physiol. Entomol. 14: 325–340.
Vickers, N., and Baker, T. (1992). MaleHeliothis virescens maintain upwind flight in response to experimentally pulsed filaments of their sex pheromone (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae).J. Insect Behav. 5: 669–687.
Vickers, N. J., and Baker, T. C. (1994). Reiterative responses to single strands of odor promote sustained upwind flight and odor source location by moths.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 5756–5760.
Willis, M. A., David, C. T., Murlis, J., and Cardé, R. T. (1994). Effects of pheromone plume structure and visual stimuli on the pheromone-modulated upwind flight of male gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) in a forest (Lepidoptera, Lymantriidae).J. Insect Behav. 7: 385–409.
Wyatt, T. D., Phillips, A. D. G., and Grégoire, J.-C. (1993). Turbulence, trees and semiochemicals: Wind-tunnel orientation of the predator,Rhizophagus grandis, to its bark beetle prey,Dendroctonus micans.Physiol. Entomol. 18: 204–210.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Foster, S.P., Ayers, R.H. Effect of a vertical object on the sex pheromone-mediated flight and landing behaviors of the male lightbrown apple moth,Epiphyas postvittana (walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). J Insect Behav 8, 465–484 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01995320
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01995320