National Center for Biological Sciences, TIFR, GKVK Campus, Bangalore, India.
Biol Lett. 2010 Jun 23;6(3):406-9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.1073. Epub 2010 Feb 24.
Migrating insects use their sensory systems to acquire local and global cues about their surroundings. Previous research on tethered insects suggests that, in addition to vision and cephalic bristles, insects use antennal mechanosensory feedback to maintain their airspeeds. Owing to the large displacements of migratory insects and difficulties inherent in tracking single individuals, the roles of these sensory inputs have never been tested in freely migrating insects. We tracked individual uraniid moths (Urania fulgens) as they migrated diurnally over the Panama Canal, and measured airspeeds and orientation for individuals with either intact or amputated flagella. Consistent with prior observations that antennal input is necessary for flight control, 59 per cent of the experimental moths could not fly after flagella amputation. The remaining fraction (41%) was flight-capable and maintained its prior airspeeds despite severe reduction in antennal input. Thus, maintenance of airspeeds may not involve antennal input alone, and is probably mediated by other modalities. Moths with amputated flagella could not recover their proper migratory orientations, suggesting that antennal integrity is necessary for long-distance navigation.
迁移昆虫利用其感觉系统来获取周围环境的局部和全局线索。先前对系留昆虫的研究表明，除了视觉和头部刚毛外，昆虫还利用触角机械感觉反馈来维持它们的飞行速度。由于迁移昆虫的大幅度位移以及跟踪单个个体所固有的困难，这些感觉输入的作用在自由迁移昆虫中从未得到过测试。我们跟踪了个体 Urania 飞蛾（Urania fulgens）在巴拿马运河上空的日间迁徙，并测量了完整或截肢触角的个体的飞行速度和方向。与先前观察到的触角输入对飞行控制是必要的一致，59%的实验飞蛾在触角截肢后无法飞行。剩下的部分（41%）是有飞行能力的，尽管触角输入严重减少，但仍保持其先前的飞行速度。因此，飞行速度的维持可能不涉及单独的触角输入，而可能是由其他模态介导的。触角截肢的飞蛾无法恢复其正确的迁徙方向，这表明触角的完整性对于远距离导航是必要的。
