Laboratory Evaluation of the Flight Ability of Female <I>Autographa nigrisigna</I> (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Measured by Actograph and Flight Mill

Abstract

Autographa nigrisigna (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is the target species of the mating disruptant for vegetables, Confuser V. However, emergence of A. nigrisigna does not decrease in the Confuser V treated vegetable fields. As one of the reasons for this phenomenon, migration of mated females into the Confuser V treated area were considered. Thus, we studied the flight ability of female A. nigrisigna by using computer-interfaced actograph and flight mill devices. Flight measurements for mated and unmated individuals 4- to 6-d-old were recorded for 24 h. The results of the actograph assay revealed that mated females moved more actively than unmated females, possibly because of their oviposition behavior. Both the flight duration and flight range, which were measured by the flight mill device, decreased continuously with age and did not show a significant difference between mated and unmated females through the ages from 4 to 6 d. This result indicates that mating status did not directly affect the flight duration or range. From our experiments, it was suggested that females maintain physical energy after mating at the same level as before mating and then mated females locomote more actively around the host plants for oviposition. These speculations are discussed in relation to the control of A. nigrisigna by mating disruption.

Flight Ability and Dispersal of European Grapevine Moth Gamma-Irradiated Males (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

“…Another feature of this study was the possibility to examine the response of irradiated males to natural, intermittently and weak (virgin females) and strong (synthetic) sex pheromone signals in laboratory and field experiments, respectively. Laboratory bioassays to assess flight ability of Lepidoptera have included actographs (Saito 2000;Hashiyama et al 2013), computerlinked flight mills (Schumacher 1997;Sarvary et al 2008), wind tunnels (Suckling et al 2011) and flight cylinders (Carpenter et al 2012). Nonetheless, each of these techniques although effective has certain limitations.…”

Flight and Walking Performance of Dark Black Chafer Beetle Holotrichia parallela (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the Presence of Known Hosts and Attractive Nonhost Plants

“…Flight proportion of selected females was dramatically decreased when compared with selected males, nonselected females, and nonselected males. The decrease in the flight performance of H. parallela females after mating is similar to that of Agrotis segetum (Guo et al 2016) and Phyllophaga cuyabana (Oliveira and Garcia 2003), but contrary to a Coleoptera species, Agrilus planipennis (Wang et al 2015) and a noctuid moth, Autographa nigrisigna (Hashiyama et al 2013). This may be explained by two hypotheses.…”