Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T04:13:03.440Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY ON THE EMERGENCE BEHAVIOUR OF ANAX JUNIUS (ODONATA: AESHNIDAE)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Robert Trottier
Robert Trottier
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Vineland Station, Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Emergence from the water of Anax junius Drury normally occurred after sunset. The onset was affected independently by water temperature and air temperature; low water temperature and high air temperature delayed the onset of emergence. In the field, the net vrtical distance travelled above the water, before ecdysis, was positively correlated with air temperature. In the laboratory, the vertical distance travelled above the water was greatest when air and water temperatures were approximately the same. The average speed of climbing to the first resting position above the water surface was faster at high than low water temperature, but the average speed of climbing from there to the final position, where ecdysis occurred, was reduced due to the effects of air temperature and humidity. Air temperatures below 12.6 °C were found to retard ecdysis and larvae returned to the water and emerged early the following day making the final process of emergence and ecdysis diurnal instead of nocturnal. The duration of ecdysis was shorter at high than low air temperatures and only the first three stages, as arbitrarily defined, were longer at low than high relative humidity; stage 4, shortened with low relative humidity. This study shows that A. Junius, emerging from the water is affected at first by the temperature experienced when submerged, but it becomes gradually and cumulatively affected by air temperature and humidity while climbing to the ecdysial position and moulting.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 105 , Issue 7 , July 1973 , pp. 975 - 984
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Corbet, P. S. 1957. The life history of the emperor dragonfly Anax imperator Leach (Odonata: Aeshnidae). J. Anim. Ecol. 26: 1–69.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. 1962. A biology of dragonflies. Witherby, London.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. 1966. Diel patterns of mosquito activity in a High Arctic locality: Hazen Camp, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T. Can. Ent. 98: 1238–1252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
East, A. 1900. Notes on the nymph of Aeschna cyanea. Entomologist 33: 88.Google Scholar
Edney, E. B. 1951. The body temperature of woodlice. J. exp. Biol. 28: 271–280.Google Scholar
Edney, E. B. 1968. Transition from water to land in isopod crustaceans. Am. Zoologist 8: 309–326.Google Scholar
Ellis, P. E. 1951. The marching behaviour of hoppers of the African migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides R. & F.) in the laboratory. Anti-Locust Bull. 7.Google Scholar
Haufe, W. O. 1964. Quantitative measurements of activity of Aedes aegypti (L.) (Culicidae: Diptera) in response to changes in the hygrothermal environment. Int. J. Biomet. 7: 245–264.Google Scholar
Kurata, M. 1966. Notes on the emergence of Anotogaster sieboldi Selys. Tombo, Tokyo 8: 15–17.Google Scholar
Kurata, M. 1968. Observations on the emergence of Onychogompus viridicostus Oguma (Gomphidae). Tombo, Tokyo 11: 30–32.Google Scholar
Lucas, W. J. 1930. The aquatic stage of the British dragonflies. Upcott and Gill, London.Google Scholar
Remmert, H. 1965. Uber den Tagesrhythmus arktischer Tiere. Z. Morph. Okol. Tiere 55: 142–160.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. and Cochran, W. G.. 1967. Statistical methods. Iowa State University Press, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Straub, E. 1943. Stadien und Darmkanal der Odonaten in Metamorphose und Hautung, sowie die Bedeutung des Schlüpfaktes fur die systematische Biologie. Arch. Naturgesch. 12: 1–93.Google Scholar
Tobias, W. 1967. Zur Schlüpfrhythmik von Köcherfliegen (Trichoptera). Oikos 18: 55–75.Google Scholar
Trottier, R. 1966. The emergence and sex ratio of Anax junius Drury (Odonata: Aeshnidae) in Canada. Can. Ent. 98: 794–798.Google Scholar
Trottier, R. 1971. Effect of temperature on the life-cycle of Anax junius (Odonata: Aeshnidae) in Canada. Can. Ent. 103: 1671–1683.Google Scholar
Trottier, R. 1973. A controlled temperature and humidity cabinet for recording the emergence behaviour of aquatic insects. Can. Ent. 105: 971–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uvarov, B. P. 1931. Insects and climate. Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 79: 1–247.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. 1965. The principles of insect physiology. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. B. 1920. Dragonflies and damselflies in relation to pondfish culture, with a list of those found near Fairport, Iowa. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish. 36: 182–264.Google Scholar