Back to Search
Start Over
The relative importance of olfaction and vision in a diurnal and a nocturnal hawkmoth
- Source :
- Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology. 192(4)
- Publication Year :
- 2005
-
Abstract
- Nectar-feeding animals can use vision and olfaction to find rewarding flowers and different species may give different weight to the two sensory modalities. We have studied how a diurnal or nocturnal lifestyle affects the weight given to vision and olfaction. We tested naive hawkmoths of two species in a wind tunnel, presenting an odour source and a visual stimulus. Although the two species belong to the same subfamily of sphingids, the Macroglossinae, their behaviour was quite different. The nocturnal Deilephila elpenor responded preferably to the odour while the diurnal Macroglossum stellatarum strongly favoured the visual stimulus. Since a nocturnal lifestyle is ancestral for sphingids, the diurnal species, M. stellatarum, has evolved from nocturnal moths that primarily used olfaction. During bright daylight visual cues may have became more important than odour.
- Subjects :
- Light
Sensory Receptor Cells
Physiology
Olfaction
Stimulus (physiology)
Nocturnal
Biology
Moths
Macroglossinae
Behavioral Neuroscience
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Stimulus modality
Species Specificity
Animals
Sensory cue
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Vision, Ocular
Behavior, Animal
Ecology
Darkness
biology.organism_classification
Circadian Rhythm
Smell
Deilephila elpenor
Odorants
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Animal Science and Zoology
Color Perception
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 03407594
- Volume :
- 192
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....745c864e577e70eb8147e0286d8ae24c