Actographs for Recording Daily Activity of Plum Curculio (Coleopera: Curculionidae)

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Abstract
Two types of actographs were designed to study changes in daily activity of plum curculio, Conotrachelu8 nenuphar (Herbst), throughout two growing seasonsin southwestern Quebec. The technique is based on plum curculio’s thanatose behavior. During the time when adult plum curculio are active, they repeatedly climb up the walls of cages and drop to the floor. The rate at which they do so provides a measure of their activity. Two years’ data indicated that their activity patterns change throughout the growing season. Before apple fruit set, plum curculio dropped mostly during the night. During fruit set and June drop, they remained active throughout the day and night. During mid-summer, the pattern of activity was less predictable. Adults resumed nocturnal dropping activity during the fall.