Electroantennograms (EAGs) from field-collected male Sphinx perelegans hawkmoths were recorded in response to 10 individual floral scent compounds identified from Clarkia breweri (Onagraceae), 21 additional volatiles characteristic of other night-blooming flowers, and eight ‘green leaf’ volatiles. Measurable EAG responses were elicited to all compounds tested, but the most effective antennal st...

Vision is a key sensory modality for flying insects, playing an important role in guidance, navigation and control. Here, we use a virtual-reality flight simulator to measure the optomotor responses of the hawkmoth Hyles lineata, and use a published linear-time invariant model of the flight dynamics to interpret the function of the measured responses in flight stabilization and control. We reco...

The energetic cost of hovering flight was measured in sphinx moths from five species. Mean power input per unit mass (Pi/M) varied from 237-2 W kg-1 in Manduca sexta (Subfamily:Sphinginae), mean body mass 1-2 X 10(-3) kg, to 327-9 W kg-1 in Deilephila elpenor (Subfamily: Macroglossinae) mean body mass 7-3 X 10(-4) kg. Mean Pi/M for the five species was inversely proportional to mean body mass a...

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...

Introduction Neuroethologists wish to understand how animals detect, integrate and perceive sensory stimuli relevant to complex behaviors, and how such processes are modified by physiological state and experience. The tobacco hornworm moth (Manduca sexta) is an excellent model organism for these purposes, due to its large size, rapid generation time and well-defined adult behaviors. Upwind-flig...

Analysing historic DNA from museum specimens offers the unique opportunity to study the molecular systematics and phylogenetics of rare and possibly extinct taxa. In the Hawaiian fauna, the hawkmoth, Hyles calida calida, occurs on several of the main islands and is quite frequent, whereas Hyles c. hawaiiensis is restricted to the Island of Hawaii where it appears to be very rare. Analysis of mi...

1. Mean thoracic temperature of free-flying H. lineata in the field and in the laboratory increased from about 40 degrees C at Ta=16 degrees C to 42-5 degrees C at Ta=32 degrees C. At a given Ta, thoracic temperature was independent of body weight and weakly correlated with wing loading. 2. The difference between abdominal temperature and air temperature increased from 2 degrees C at low Ta to ...