... these questions, we performed spike-resolution electromyography and electrical stimulation in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta during tethered flapping. We specifically explored how flight power muscles contribute to pitch control. Combining correlational study of visually induced turns with causal manipulation...

...Viet Le; Benjamin Cellini; Rudolf Schilder; Jean-Michel Mongeau ABSTRACT Many animals use body parts such as tails to stabilize posture while moving at high speed. In flying insects, leg or abdominal inertia can influence flight posture. In the hawkmoth Manduca sexta , the abdomen contributes ∼50...

...Elisabeth Adam; Bill S. Hansson; Markus Knaden ABSTRACT Insect pollinators, such as the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta , are known for locating flowers and learning floral odors by using their antennae. A recent study revealed, however, that the tobacco hawkmoth additionally possesses olfactory...

... maneuvering in the wake of flowers display simplified flower tracking dynamics. In the flower wake, the leading edge vortex does not burst and extends continuously across the wings and thorax. Manduca sexta Flight Flower tracking Leading edge vortex Unsteady flow System identification...

... by temperature. However, the effect of temperature on hemolymph viscosity is unknown. We used Manduca sexta larvae to measure hemolymph viscosity across a range of physiologically relevant temperatures. Measurements were taken from 0 to 45°C using a cone and plate viscometer in a sealed environmental chamber...

... Manduca sexta to study neuromechanical strategies of soft-bodied scansorial locomotion. Manduca locomotion critically depends on the timing of proleg grip release, which is mediated by the principal planta retractor muscle and its single motoneuron, PPR. During upright crawling, PPR firing frequency...

... (EAAs) and one non-essential amino acid (NEAA) by the Carolina sphinx moth ( Manduca sexta ). On day one post-eclosion from the pupae, adult male moths oxidized greater amounts of larva-derived AAs than females, and more nectar-derived AAs after feeding. After 4 days of starvation, the opposite pattern...

...Dieter Wicher; Satoshi Morinaga; Lorena Halty-deLeon; Nico Funk; Bill Hansson; Kazushige Touhara; Monika Stengl ABSTRACT Manduca sexta females attract their mates with the release of a species-specific sex-pheromone blend, with bombykal ( E , Z )-10,12-hexadecadienal and ( E , E , Z )-10,12,14...

...-dependent effects – effects of the order and duration of exposure to temperature – can also influence mean performance. We quantified the non-linear and time-dependent effects of diurnally fluctuating temperatures for larval growth rates in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta L., with four main results...

... no aerodynamic role and are specific to two orders of insects (Diptera and Strepsiptera). Aside from the literature on halteres and recent work on the antennae of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta , it is unclear how other flying insects use mechanosensory information to control body dynamics. The mechanosensory...

... of flying animals. In order to examine these interactions, we trained seven hawkmoths ( Manduca sexta ) (wingspan ~9 cm) to fly and feed in a wind tunnel under steady flow (controls) and in the von Kármán vortex street of vertically oriented cylinders (two different cylinders with diameters of 10 and 5 cm...

... that this assumption is incorrect. We found that the respiratory system increases substantially in both mass and volume within the last larval instar of Manduca sexta larvae, and that the growth of the respiratory system changes with diet quality, potentially as a consequence of shifting metabolic demands...

... investigated the visual–abdominal reflex displayed by the hawkmoth Manduca sexta to determine its role in flight control. We measured the open-loop stimulus–response characteristics (measured as a transfer function) between the visual stimulus and abdominal response in tethered moths. The transfer function...

...Linnea I. van Griethuijsen; Kelly M. Banks; Barry A. Trimmer SUMMARY Aimed movements require that an animal accurately locates the target and correctly reaches that location. One such behavior is the defensive strike seen in Manduca sexta larva. These caterpillars respond to noxious mechanical...

... is expected to produce asymmetric flight forces and torques and thus destabilize the animal in addition to reducing its total wing size. We measured the kinematic and neuromuscular responses of hawkmoths ( Manduca sexta ) hovering in free flight with asymmetrically damaged wings via high-speed videography...

..., and their powerful appendages provide grip independent of their dimensional changes. Here, we show that the anterograde wave of movement seen in the crawling tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta , is mediated by co-activation of dorsal and ventral muscles within a body segment, rather than by antiphasic activation...

...N. M. Kalberer; C. E. Reisenman; J. G. Hildebrand SUMMARY The primary olfactory centres of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta , the antennal lobes, contain a small number of sexually dimorphic glomeruli: the male-specific macroglomerular complex and the large female glomeruli. These glomeruli play...

...) at multiple contact points during crawling by the tobacco hornworm ( Manduca sexta ). Most abdominal prolegs bear similar body weight during their stance phase. Interestingly, forward reaction forces did not come from pushing off the substrate. Instead, most positive reaction forces came from anterior...

... conditions on embryo development time and survival, and(3) tested embryonic metabolic rates over increasing temperatures. Our results show that Datura wrightii leaves buffer Manduca sexta eggs from fatally high ambient temperatures in the southwestern USA. Moreover, small differences in temperature profiles...

... Manduca sexta using RNA interference (RNAi) to prevent expression of the precursor protein proPSP. We show that infection with the insect-specific bacterial pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens and non-pathogenic Escherichia coli induces proPSP mRNA transcription in the insect fat body but not in hemocytes...