Perception of change in depth in the hummingbird hawkmoth Manduca sexta (Sphingidae, Lepidoptera)

Responses of Descending Visually-Sensitive Neurons in the Hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, to Three-Dimensional Flower-Like Stimuli.

Hawkmoths rely on vision to track moving flowers during hovering-feeding bouts. Visually guided flight behaviors require a sensorimotor transformation, where motion information processed by the optic ganglia ultimately modifies motor axon activity. While a great deal is known about motion processing in the optic lobes of insects, there has been far less exploration into the visual information a...

The Effect of Larval Diet and Sex on Nectar Nicotine Feeding Preferences in Manduca Sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Diel rhythms and sex differences in the locomotor activity of hawkmoths.

Circadian patterns of activity are considered ubiquitous and adaptive, and are often invoked as a mechanism for temporal niche partitioning. Yet, comparisons of rhythmic behavior in related animal species are uncommon. This is particularly true of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), in which studies of whole-animal patterns of behavior are far outweighed by examinations of tissue-specific mole...

Bombykal, a Sex Pheromone of the Sphinx Moth Manduca sexta

The first sex pheromone of a Sphinx moth has been isolated from Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) with the aid of an electroantennogram assay. It is attractive to males in a field test where its activity might be augmented by a second component in female extracts. Chemical tests and chromatographic properties identify the pheromone as a C16-aldehyde with a pair of conjugated double bonds....

Molecular interactions between the specialist herbivore Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) and its natural host Nicotiana attenuata. III. Fatty acid-amino acid conjugates in herbivore oral secretions are necessary and sufficient for herbivore-specific plant responses.

Feeding by the tobacco specialist Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) and application of larval oral secretions and regurgitant (R) to mechanical wounds are known to elicit: (a) a systemic release of mono- and sesquiterpenes, (b) a jasmonate burst, and (c) R-specific changes in transcript accumulation of putatively growth- and defense-related mRNAs in Nicotiana attenuata Torr. ex Wats. We i...