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Insect photoperiodism: An hourglass measures photoperiodic time inOstrinia nubilalis

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Summary

The European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) diapauses as a last instar larva. Both induction and termination of diapause are photoperiodically controlled. Larvae enter diapause (Fig. 1) when raised in light cycles containing 12 or 13 h of light per 24 h (LD 12∶12 or LD 13∶11). When placed in LD 16∶8, diapausing larvae undergo pupation and adult development (Fig. 2, 3).

Long light cycle (T) experiments demonstrate that the timing mechanism involved in terminating diapause has the properties of an interval timer or hourglass mechanism (Fig. 4). Six inductive 8-h dark phases are necessary for optimal termination (Fig. 5), and they must be coupled with at least 4 h of light per cycle (Fig. 6). The circadian system inOstrinia is probably not involved in any way in this response.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, 19711, Newark, Delaware, USA

    Steven D. Skopik & Mary F. Bowen

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  1. Steven D. Skopik
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  2. Mary F. Bowen
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Additional information

We are especially indebted to Dr. Milton H. Stetson for many stimulating discussions, suggestions, and his critical reading of the manuscript. We also benefited greatly from discussions with Dr. Paul Burbutis, Mr. Gary Curl and Dr. N.G. Patel. The former two saved us numerous hours of work by generously supplying us with eggs and teaching us the rearing technique forOstrinia. This work was supported by a grant from the UNIDEL Foundation to the Department of Biological Sciences.

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Skopik, S.D., Bowen, M.F. Insect photoperiodism: An hourglass measures photoperiodic time inOstrinia nubilalis . J. Comp. Physiol. 111, 249–259 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00606467

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