Summary
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1.
Male giant silkmoths generally show 3 distinct peaks of flight activity each day: a brief burst of flight after lights-off (α 1), a longer bout of activity later in the night (α 2), and a lights-on response. Theα 1 andα 2 activities are under circadian control, whereas the lights-on response occurs in response to an exogenous signal.
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2.
Surgical experiments showed that the brain was necessary for the expression of the flight rhythm. Moreover, an intact neural pathway from the brain to the thoracic motor centers was needed for overt rhythmicity.
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3.
Rhythmic flight activity continued after the removal of the optic lobes but not after excision of the cerebral lobes.
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Extirpation of the compound eyes did not interfere with the entrainment of theα 1 andα 2 peaks, but it abolished the lights-on response. Ablation of the ocelli had no effect on any of the flight peaks. It was concluded that the flight clock(s) was entrained by an extraretinal photoreceptor.
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Experiments involving covering the head with opaque wax indicated that the extraretinal receptor was in the head.
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When the head was covered with opaque wax but the compound eyes were left exposed, the moths showed free-running activity even though they were in a photoperiod regimen. Consequently, the only pathway of photoperiod information to the locomotor clock is apparently via the extraretinal receptor.
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7.
It was concluded that adult activity was most likely controlled by centers in the cerebral lobe area of the brain. These presumably receive light directly and control activity via neural pathways to the thoracic ganglia.
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Truman, J.W. Physiology of insect rhythms. J. Comp. Physiol. 95, 281–296 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00609702
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00609702