The Flight Capacity of Dispersing Milkweed Beetles, Tetraopes tetraopthalmus1 (original) (raw)
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The Flight and Migration Ecology of the Red Milkweed Beetle (Tetraopes Tetraophthalmus)
Ecology, 1984
Laboratory experiments showed that female Tetraopes beetles possess greater flight capacity than males and that flight capacity is positively correlated with size. Takeoff tendency, however, is higher in males and is negatively correlated with size. Both flight capacity and takeoff tendency decline with age. Flight capacity is diminished markedly by starving for 48 h, and, in females, was not found to be influenced by oogenesis. The laboratory findings are consistent with field data showing that males move more often within patches (mate-searching flights) while females move more between patches (migration flights). The data suggest that the flight and migration ecology of shortflying sedentary species, like Tetraopes, may differ markedly from that of long-flying fugitive species.
Some Factors Affecting Flight Activity in Individual Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltus)
Journal of Experimental Biology, 1966
1. Individual adults of Oncopeltus were tested repeatedly at 2- or 3-day intervals, using tethered flight, to determine the amount of flight activity as measured by flight duration. 2. The peak period of activity occurred 8 days after the final moult with later flights scattered and showing no concentration at a particular age. Deposition of cuticular growth rings ceased at about 7 days; the peak activity was thus post-teneral and probably represents migration. 3. Only 23.8% of bugs tested showed flights of over 30 min. Those bugs which flew for long periods at 8 days were more likely to show long flights at a later age than were bugs which did not fly at day 8. There thus seems to be a behavioural polymorphism with distinct ‘flyers’ and ‘non-flyers’. 4. More females, 30.7%, than males, 18.1%, exhibited flights of over 30 minutes. Males which did have such long flights were, however, more likely than females to have them repeatedly. 5. In both sexes virgins seemed to be more active ...
Oecologia, 1996
Individual movement patterns and the effects of host plant patch size and isolation on patch occupancy were examined for red milkweed beetles, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus, residing in a heterogeneous landscape. Male beetles were found to move both more often and farther between host plant patches than female beetles, and this difference affected the patterns of patch occupancy observed. Overall, unoccupied milkweed patches were smaller and more isolated than patches occupied by beetles. Patches uninhabited by females tended to be more isolated, but not necessarily smaller, than patches with female beetles, indicating that females may be affected more by patch isolation than patch size. Presence of male beetles on patches showed a stronger response to patch size than to patch isolation. Differences in movement between males and females illustrate the need for demographically based dispersal data. Comparisons of Tetraopes interpatch movement patterns between landscapes composed of patches of different size revealed that landscapes with overall smaller patches may have greater rates of interpatch movement.
The Relation Between Age and Flight Activity in the Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus
Journal of Experimental Biology, 1965
1. The mean flight-duration, in tethered flight, of the ‘large milkweed bug’, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas), was measured as a function of age in days after the final moult. 2. In both sexes a peak of flight occurs at 8-10 days. In males there is a second flight peak at 30-35 days, whereas there is no second peak in females. 3. Virgin males tested at 20 days, a time when mated males were short-flying, flew longer than bugs at any other age. Thirty-day-old virgin females were not significantly different from mated females of the same age. 4. When long flights occurred in males they were in general preceded by one or more flights of less than 1 min. This was not true for females, and the difference between the sexes was statistically significant. 5. The results in 2, 3 and 4, above indicate two, and possibly three, differences between the sexes. Males and females should thus be studied separately with respect to flight activity. 6. Some individuals never flew. These were as long-lived...
The Influence of Environment and Heredity on Flight Activity in the Milkweed Bug Oncopeltus
Journal of Experimental Biology, 1968
1. Most long flights of Oncopeltus, tested using tethered flight in the laboratory, took place during the middle of the day. This is consistent with field data from other Heteroptera. 2. In bugs reared at 23° C., regardless of length of photoperiod, 20% of males and 30% of females were migrants. Temperatures of 19° and 27° C. reduced these proportions. 3. A short photoperiod of 12 hr. of light failed to increase the proportion of migrants over that present at 16 hr. The period in the life-history during which migration took place, however, was lengthened considerably. In spite of the lengthened flight period and a delay in oviposition, migrants arrive at their destinations with reproductive value high and are therefore colonizers. 4. Food deprivation may increase somewhat the proportion of migrants if it occurs shortly after eclosion, although most of the extra activity seems to be due to additional non-migratory flight. If it occurs after oviposition has begun, food deprivation can...
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology, 1980
The relationships between wingspan, body mass and wing-beat frequency for the beetle. Puch~nodtr sinuuta, have been established. 2. Thrust and lift generated during tethered Ilight have been measured using a simple technique and the beetles' responses to the unnatural constraints are discussed. 3. The biophysical correlates of P. sinutrttr tethered flight are compared with similar relationships obtained from flying animals and machines.
A technique for studying flight behaviour of tethered Spodoptera exempta moths
Physiological Entomology, 1980
A new apparatus was developed for studies on flight behaviour of the African armyworm, Spodoptera exemptu (Wlk.), to record the time and duration of all flights continuously for up to several days. A technique for attaching the mounting bracket to the pharate adult before eclosion allowed flight recording to commence within 1-2 h of emergence without the need for anaesthesia. Results obtained using the apparatus indicate that migratory flight does not occur on the night of emergence. The time of takeoff of tethered moths in the laboratory agrees closely with observations of flight behaviour in the field.
2020
The need for long dispersal flights can drive selection for behavioral, physiological, and biomechanical mechanisms to reduce the energy spent flying. However, some energy loss during the transfer of momentum from the wing to the fluid is inevitable, and inherent to the fluid-wing interaction. Here, we analyzed these losses during the forward flight of the mango stem borer (Batocera rufomaculata). This relatively large beetle can disperse substantial distances in search of new host trees, and laboratory experiments have demonstrated continuous tethered flights that can last for up to an hour. We flew the beetles tethered in a wind tunnel and used high-speed videography to estimate the aerodynamic power from their flapping kinematics and particle image velocimetry (PIV) to evaluate drag and kinetic energy from their unsteady wakes. To account for tethering effects, we measured the forces applied by the beetles on the tether arm holding them in place. The drag of the flying beetle ove...
Researches on Population Ecology, 1993
Dispersal propensity of green leafhoppers was compared between a tropical species, Nephotettix virescens, and a temperate species, N. cincticeps. The flight ability was measured with tethered flight technique under laboratory conditions (25~ 16L-8D). The pre-flight period was shorter and the flight duration was longer in N. virescens than in N. cincticeps in both sexes. No significant correlations were found between the flight activity and morphometric characters for either of the two species. The results suggested that dispersal propensity of N. virescens is higher than that of N. cincticeps.
Influence of wing loading on Colorado potato beetle flight
The Canadian Entomologist, 2004
Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), with a range of wing loadings was measured following exposure to different quality diets. Beetles fed a diet of insect-resistant foliage expressing Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrioniz toxins, beetles that did not feed but consumed water, and those that were starved without access to water exhibited a lower range of wing loadings than those fed conventional foliage, but there was no corresponding increase in flight frequency. Exposing potato beetles to poor food or no food resulted in a wing-loading range of 50-140 mg/cm 2 compared with a range of 80-200 mg/cm 2 for beetles fed conventional foliage. No flight was observed when wing loadings were less than 80 mg/cm 2 of wing surface, presumably because of other physiological processes associated with poor nutrition and not because of wing loading per se. Overwintered and summer population beetles fed a diet of conventional potato foliage did not take off when wing loading exceeded 150 mg/cm 2 of supporting wing surface. Similar trade-offs between flight capacity and consumption of large meals may exist for other insects.