Comparison of the circadian eclosion rhythm between non-diapause and diapause pupae in the onion fly, Delia antiqua: the change of rhythmicity

Abstract

When pupae of Delia antiqua were transferred to constant darkness (DD) from light–dark (LD) cycles or constant light (LL), the sensitivity to light of the circadian clock controlling eclosion increased with age. The daily rhythm of eclosion appeared in both non-diapause and diapause pupae only when this transfer was made during late pharate adult development. When transferred from LL to DD in the early pupal stage, the adult eclosion was weakly rhythmic in non-diapause pupae but arrhythmic in diapause pupae. However, the sensitivity of the circadian clock to temperature cycles or steps was higher in diapause pupae than in non-diapause pupae; in the transfer to a constant 20 °C from a thermoperiod of 25 °C (12 h)/20 °C (12 h) on day 10 after pupation or from chilling (7.5 °C) in DD, the adult eclosion from diapause pupae was rhythmic but that from non-diapause pupae arrhythmic. In a transfer to 20 °C from the thermoperiod after the initiation of eclosion, rhythmicity was observed in both types of pupae. The larval stage was insensitive to the effect of LD cycle initiating the eclosion rhythm. In D. antiqua pupae in the soil under natural conditions, therefore, the thermoperiod in the late pupal stage would be the most important ‘Zeitgeber’ for the determination of eclosion timing.