Document Detail


Circadian rhythm of spontaneous locomotor activity in the bed bug, Cimex lectularius L.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20452356     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Bed bugs must avoid detection when finding hosts and returning to hidden harborages. Their stealthy habits include foraging when hosts are asleep. Characteristics of spontaneous locomotor activity rhythm of bed bugs with different feeding histories were studied. In the absence of host stimuli, adults and nymphs were much more active in the dark than in the light. The onset of activity in the scotophase commenced soon after lights-off. The free-running period (tau) for all stages was longer in continuous darkness (DD) than in continuous light (LL). The lengthening of tau in DD is an exception for the circadian rule that predicts the opposite in nocturnal animals. Activity in all stages was entrained to reverse L:D regimes within four cycles. Short-term starved adults moved more frequently than recently fed adults. While bed bugs can survive for a year or more without a blood meal, we observed a reduction in activity in insects held for five weeks without food. We suggest that bed bugs make a transition to host-stimulus dependent searching when host presence is not predictable. Such a strategy would enable bed bugs to maximize reproduction when resources are abundant and save energy when resources are scarce.
Authors:
Alvaro Romero; Michael F Potter; Kenneth F Haynes
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2010-05-14
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of insect physiology     Volume:  56     ISSN:  1879-1611     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Insect Physiol.     Publication Date:  2010 Nov 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-08-17     Completed Date:  2010-12-07     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  2985080R     Medline TA:  J Insect Physiol     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1516-22     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA. alvaro_romero@ncsu.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Bedbugs / physiology*
Circadian Rhythm / physiology*
Feeding Behavior
Female
Light
Male
Motor Activity / physiology*
Nymph
Photoperiod
Time Factors

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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