Influence of ambient and thoracic temperatures upon sexual behaviour of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In an ambient temperature (Ta) range of 18–28°C, thoracic temperatures (Tth) of individual male Lymantria dispar (L.), caught at flight in the field, ranged from 21 to 36.5°C, with a correlation coefficient of 0.63 between Tth and ambient temperature (Ta). Ambient temperature (and insolation) altered the insect's body temperature and the probabilities, latencies, and durations of preflight responses to pheromone. In a wind tunnel at 16 and 20°C, quiescent males exposed to pheromone raised their Tth by sustained wing fanning from 17 and 21°C, respectively, to c. 24°C before takeoff. At 24 and 28°C ambient, Tth rose by takeoff to 28 and 31°C, respectively. The latencies of male wing fanning in response to pheromone decreased from 1.44 min at 16°C ambient, to 0.58 min at 20°C, to 0.26 min at 24°C, and to 0.16min at 28°C. The components of behaviour (antennal twitch, body jerk, step and wing tremor) that occurred between quiescence and wing fanning were more frequent at ambients of 16 and 20°C than at 24 and 28°C.