Abstract
The present study is concerned with the role of photoperiod and temperature in the life history of the lesser cornstalk borer. The two principal areas of investigation are adult locomotor behavioral patterns and diapause. Both male and female adult lesser cornstalk borers are nocturnal in their locomotor behavioral habits. However, this nocturnal movement differs with sex. Female lesser cornstalk borers are more active in the early scotophase, while males are more active at mid-scotophase. After mating the locomotor behavioral patterns of female lesser cornstalk borers changes. Prior to copulation females exhibit 72% of their activity in the first half of the scotophase, whereas, after mating, 86% of the nocturnal activity occurs in this same time period. The nocturnal locomotor activity of the lesser cornstalk borer is regulated by an endogenous circadian rhythm which is synchronized by the lights-off stimulus of a 24 hour photoperiod. When held in constant darkness the activity peak continuously advances toward the lights-off stimulus and maintains a 22 hour cycle. Rearing the lesser cornstalk borer under numerous temperatures and photoperiods does not induce a diapause state. All life stages are insensitive to thermal and photoperiodic variations which stimulate the onset of winter. Only low temperatures cause any extension of developmental stages. This is irrespective of photoperiodic changes.
Holloway, Rodney Leon (1973). Influence of photoperiod and temperature on locomotion and development of the lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Phycitidae). Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -156640.