Full Moon Nights Research Articles

Influence of environmental factors on daily flight activity of the filbertworm,Melissopus latiferreanus(Lepidoptera, Olethreutidae)

ABSTRACT.Flight ofMelissopus latiferreanus (Walsinghzm), the filbertworm, was influenced by a number of environmental factors including temperature, wind, and rainfall.FewM. latiferreanusmoths were trapped in light or suction traps or found in sweep nets samples when air temperatures were above 31°C or below 15°C. Moth captures were optimum when prevailing temperature was between 21 and 26°C.Typically moth flights began at about sunset and continued throughout the night with a peak at 22.00 hours, about an hour after sunset.Very few moths were trapped under showery and gusty conditions when wind velocity was over 16km h−1.More moths were captured in light traps during dark nights than on full moon nights. The pattern of captures indicated that females flew earlier than males.

LOCOMOTOR AND LIGHT RESPONSES OF LARVAE OF THE HORSESHOE CRAB, LIMULUS POLYPHEMUS (L.).

The horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus lays its eggs on sandy beaches at the level of the highest high tide in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, buried approximately 18 cm below the surface. When they hatch, the larvae must move from the buried nest site into the marine environment. In the field, nests of larvae move to the sand surface and emerge at the spring high tide on the night of full moon. They may also be released by heavy surf associated with storms. No release occurs on the spring high tides associated with new moon. In the laboratory, larvae are seen to be nocturnally active, both under ambient and DD photoperiods. Activity peaks at times of full and new moons, and larvae are positively phototatic at all lunar phases except new moon. A model to account for observed field behavior in light of laboratory activity and light responses is presented.

A Population Dynamics Study of the Bollworm 1 and the Tobacco Budworm with Light Traps 23

Blacklight traps were placed in corn, grain sorghum, cotton, and pasture to study their usefulness in measuring Heliothis spp. adult populations and their movement between crops. The catches in each crop reflected significantly the effect of crop– Heliothis spp. affinity and illustrated the importance of trap location in evaluating blacklight trap catches. Rates of increase and successive generations were observed and measured. Rates of increase were reduced by as much as 80% on nights of full moon during June, July, and August. The parameters associated with monitoring and predicting Heliothis spp. populations that were measured can be fitted into a Heliothis spp. population dynamics model.

イセエビの活動性と水中放射照度との関係について

It has been known1) ?? 3) that the lobster has a crepuscular type of daily activity with two peaks in catch. But the mechanism for the bimodality of the activity is yet unknown. In the present investigation, catch experiments and measurements of under water light intensity in the fishing ground of the lobster were carried out simultaneously, and an analysis was made with regard to the relationship between the activity and the light intensity. The results of the experiments are given in Table 3, and Fig. 2. Basing upon the results obtained from the present experiments, it may be said that the mechanism in question is as follows: sudden changes of the under water light intensity in dawn or dusk give stimulus for activity of the lobster, and consequently increase the catch of the lobster (Fig. 2). Under water light intensity ranges 2.4-3.5×10-4 and 2.2-2.8 × 10-4μW/cm2 in full moon night (moon-age 15) and new moon night (moon-age 4.3) respectively.

蓄養中におけるイセエビの摂餌量について

The daily amount of food required by the Japanese spiny lobster has been studied to gather information in relation to its cultivation. The principal objective of the present work is to describe the relation between food intake and body weight as well as the influence of temperature upon food intake. Experiments was performed during the period from August 1958 to October 1961 on the lobsters of different body weights (raging from 50 to 300 gramms) which were kept in separate cage, being fed with fresh fish meat. The data obtained were summerized as shown in (Table 1). 1) The amount of food taken by a lobster in an over-night time changes with body weight and temperature of water. The relation between the amount of food (F gr.) and body weight (W gr.) can be expressed by the formula, F=aWb. Here a and b are constants, whose values depend upon the temperature of water as shown in (Table 2). The rate of feed-ing indicated by F/W×100 inversely changes with body weight. 2) In each group of the lobsters of different body weights, the amount of food rexuired regularly varies temperature (T°C) and another formula, F=c log T+d, may be fitted to their relation. Both c and d are constants, which depend upon the body weight. In such a case when F=0, the ualues of T calculated from this formula on the lobsters of 50 and 300 gramms in body weight come to 15.2 and 16.2°C respectively, while the lobster kept in la-boratory tank stopped to take diet when the temperature dropped to nearly 12°C. 3) Summerizing the figures calculated from the above-mentioned two formulos, the re-lation between feeding rate, body weight and temperature was given as shown in (Fig. 3). 4) The influence of moon light upon the food intake of the lobster was observe, that is, the amount of food required decreased in the full-moon night.

IX - The influence of moonlight on the activity of certain nocturnal insects, particularly of the familyNoctuidae, as indicated by a light trap

For many years amateur entomologists have considered that on nights of full moon it is of little use going out to catch specimens, as insects will be few in number. This belief applies to all methods of collecting, including bait (sugaring) and light, and is supposed to apply particularly to the Lepidoptera. Scattered through the literature on Agricultural Entomology one finds occasionally references to the use of light traps for the destruction of pests, and statements, usually from the tropics, that the catches were less at times of full moon ; but so far as I am aware no proper statistical study of the question has ever been made. One of the most striking series of figures is that produced by Pagden (1932) by trapping with a light trap the two Pyralid mothsDiatraea auriciliaandSchoenobius incertelluswhich are pests of rice in Malaya. He found, between 18 January and 29 June, 1931, six periods of maximum catch in both sexes of both species corresponding more or less to the no moon periods, and six periods of minimum catch corresponding even more definitely to the full moons. Scarcely any insects were captured at the time of full moon.