spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yamawaki, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Honda, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yamawaki, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Honda, H.
The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 485-492 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Visual control of host pursuit in the parasitoid fly Exorista japonica

Yoshifumi Yamawaki1,*, Yooichi Kainoh2 and Hiroshi Honda2

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan and
2 Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan

*e-mail: yyamascb{at}mbox.nc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Accepted 3 December 2001

The tachinid fly Exorista japonica is a parasitoid of many kinds of lepidopterous larvae. After encountering a suitable host, the fly pursues the crawling larva on foot using visual cues to guide it. To investigate the visual control of host pursuit, we observed and videotaped pursuits of a host, the common armyworm Mythimna separata, for frame-by-frame analysis. Observation was performed in sunlight and under illumination from a fluorescent lamp. The fly pursued hosts discontinuously with a repeated stop-and-run motion. During a run, its movements consisted of rotation, forward translation and sideways translation. Rotation during a run was positively correlated with the angular position of the host’s head. The direction of translation depended on the angular position of the host’s head. Forward translation was negatively correlated with the visual angle subtended by the host. These results suggest that the fly orients and walks towards the leading edge of a moving target. There was little difference in the results between sunlight and illumination from a fluorescent lamp.

Key words: tachinid fly, Exorista japonica, common armyworm, Mythimna separata, host pursuit, visually guided behaviour, insect.


Related articles in JEB:

Ho’t Pursuit! (p. 485)
Kathryn Phillips
JEB 2002 205: i. [Full Text]  





© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2002