A short video detailing the exposure of a recently eclosed male A.ilia specimen to a pure solution of my predicted male bait/attraction compound. The active component rapidly dissipates. I think this initial test confirms that further investigation is certainly warranted. What do you all think?
Mark
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4 comments:
interesting Mark; are you not going to tell us what the bait is?
After the initial tasting, it did not seem, to me, keen to repeat the process
interesting Mark; are you not going to tell us what the bait is?
After the initial tasting, it did not seem, to me, keen to repeat the process
Fabulous stuff Mark, I love empirical evidence (no pun intended)and adds weight to your study!
Dennis,
The Proboscis Extension Reflex, or Reflex Extension of Proboscis (REP), is a spontaneous response in many species of butterflies (predominantly tested in members of the Nymphalidae) after they are exposed to specific (predominantly food related) odors. The reflex is not consciously controlled by the insect and is followed by repeated probing and sucking movements of the proboscis. For further background reading on the subject matter, try taking a look at Myers and Walter (1970) and also Honda (1973), (1976). Although the latter 2 papers are predominantly in Japanese, due to the relevance of the subject matter in the 1973 paper, I do have an electronic copy of this article, which I obtained directly from Honda himself. I trust that this helps to clarify the effects being observed in the youtube clip?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022191070900910
Honda, K. 1973. Olfactory response of adults of butterflies to odorous compounds I. Sasakia charonda Hewitson. Nat. Insect 8:21-24.
Honda, K. 1976. The role of olfactory and color senses in the feeding behavior in the adult of Nymphalis xanthomelas japonica Stichel (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), with description of the preference on colors of flowers in the flower-visiting behavior. Trans. Lepid. Soc. Jpn. 27:52-58.
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