Tenebrio beetles use magnetic inclination compass

VÁCHA, Martin, Dana DRŠTKOVÁ and Tereza PŮŽOVÁ. Tenebrio beetles use magnetic inclination compass. Naturwissenschaften. 2008, vol. 95, No 8, p. 761-765. ISSN 0028-1042.

Basic information

• Original name: Tenebrio beetles use magnetic inclination compass
• Name in Czech: Potemník moučný používá inklinační magnetický kompas.
• Authors: VÁCHA, Martin (203 Czech Republic, guarantor), Dana DRŠTKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic) and Tereza PŮŽOVÁ (203 Czech Republic).
• Edition: Naturwissenschaften, 2008, 0028-1042.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 30105 Physiology
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 2.126
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/08:00024671
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• UT WoS: 000257395800010
• Keywords in English: Insect Tenebrio Magnetoreception Compass Inclination
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Animals that guide directions of their locomotion or their migration routes by the lines of the geomagnetic field use either polarity or inclination compasses to determine the field polarity (the north or south direction). Distinguishing the two compass types is a guideline for estimation of the molecular principle of reception and has been achieved for a number of animal groups, with the exception of insects. A standard diagnostic method to distinguish a compass type is based on reversing the vertical component of the geomagnetic field, which leads to the opposite reactions of animals with two different compass types. In the present study, adults of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor were tested by means of a two-step laboratory test of magnetoreception. Beetles that were initially trained to memorize the magnetic position of the light source preferred, during the subsequent test, this same direction, pursuant geomagnetic cues only. In the following step, the vertical component was reversed between the training and the test. The beetles significantly turned their preferred direction by 180 degrees. Our results brought until then unknown, original findings that insects, represented here by the Tenebrio molitor species, use - in contrast to another previously researched Arthropod, spiny lobster - the inclination compass.

Abstract (in Czech)

Animals that guide directions of their locomotion or their migration routes by the lines of the geomagnetic field use either polarity or inclination compasses to determine the field polarity (the north or south direction). Distinguishing the two compass types is a guideline for estimation of the molecular principle of reception and has been achieved for a number of animal groups, with the exception of insects. A standard diagnostic method to distinguish a compass type is based on reversing the vertical component of the geomagnetic field, which leads to the opposite reactions of animals with two different compass types. In the present study, adults of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor were tested by means of a two-step laboratory test of magnetoreception. Beetles that were initially trained to memorize the magnetic position of the light source preferred, during the subsequent test, this same direction, pursuant geomagnetic cues only. In the following step, the vertical component was reversed between the training and the test. The beetles significantly turned their preferred direction by 180 degrees. Our results brought until then unknown, original findings that insects, represented here by the Tenebrio molitor species, use - in contrast to another previously researched Arthropod, spiny lobster - the inclination compass.

Links

• GA206/05/0911, research and development project: Name: Analýza magnetorecepčního chování laboratorních druhů hmyzu

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Analysis of magnetoreception behavior of laboratory insects

• GC206/07/J041, research and development project: Name: Neurální podstata magnetorecepce hmyzu.

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Towards the neuronal basis of insect magnetoreception

• MSM0021622416, plan (intention): Name: Diverzita biotických společenstev a populací: kauzální analýza variability v prostoru a čase

Investor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, Diversity of Biotic Communities and Populations: Causal Analysis of variation in space and time