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Light attraction of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and regional spectral sensitivity of its compound eye by Thomas Cowan BSc Trent University 1998 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PEST MANAGEMENT In the Department of Biological Sciences © Thomas Cowan 2009 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Approval Name: Thomas Cowan Degree: Master of Pest Management Title of Thesis: Light attraction of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and regional spectral sensitivity of its compound eye Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Rolf. Mathewes Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, S.F.U. ______________________________________ Dr. G. Gries, Professor, Senior Supervisor Department of Biological Sciences, S.F.U. ______________________________________ Dr. I. Novales Flamarique, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, S.F.U. ______________________________________ Dr. G. J. R. Judd, Research Scientist, Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Public Examiner Date Defended/Approved: July_30_2009 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 Abstract I tested the hypothesis that the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella(Hübner), uses wavelengths of visible blue/violet light as orientation cues. In four-choice laboratory experiments, blue light (400–475 nm) was significantly more effective than green (475–600 nm), orange (575–700 nm) or red (590–800 nm) light in attracting males and mated females. The 405-nm “violet” light emitting diode (LED) was significantly more effective than the 435-, 450- or 470-nm “blue” LED in attracting males as well as virgin and mated females. A 405-nm wavelength also significantly enhanced the known attractiveness of UV light. In electroretinograms, standardized responses of dorsal, equatorial and ventral eye regions to UV, violet and green light were similar, but the equatorial region was most sensitive. Occluding regions of the eye did not affect the moths’ behavioural orientation to violet light, indicating that phototactic responses are not dependent on a single eye region. Keywords: regional specialization, orientation, violet light, foraging, Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella, Lepidoptera, Pyralidae iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Gerhard Gries and Regine Gries for their support, patience, editing and helpful insights in this project; Dr. Inigo Novales Flamarique for valuable advice; Pilar Cepida and Bryan Jackson for technical assistance in bioassays and electrophysiology; Bob Birtch for graphical illustrations and Cory Campbell for advice and insight into bioassay design. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their encouragement and support. This research was made possible through financial support in form of a Simon Fraser University Graduate Fellowship, the Professor Thelma Finlayson Graduate Entrance Scholarship, the Professor Thelma Finlayson Fellowship, and the Dr. John Yorston Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Pest Management. Additional funding has been provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Industrial Research Chair to Gerhard Gries with Pherotech International Inc., SC Johnson Canada, and Global Forest Science as industrial sponsors. iv Table of Contents Approval .............................................................................................................. ii Abstract .............................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................ v List of figures .................................................................................................... vii 1: Indian meal moth pest status and control .................................................... 1 1.1.1 Pest status ...................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Biology ............................................................................................ 1 1.1.3 Control strategies ............................................................................ 2 2: Insect visual systems .................................................................................... 4 2.1 Introduction to insect vision ................................................................ 4 2.1.1 Compound eye and ultrastructure ................................................... 4 2.2 Information contained in light ........................................................... 10 2.2.1 Colour discrimination .................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Polarized light ............................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Directional light ............................................................................. 13 2.2.4 Sensitive regions in the compound eye ........................................ 13 3: Ultraviolet and violet light: attractive orientation cues for the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella .......................................................... 17 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 17 3.2 General materials and methods ....................................................... 19 3.2.1 Origin and maintenance of IMM colony ......................................... 19 3.2.2 General experimental design ........................................................ 20 3.2.3 Electroretinogram recordings ........................................................ 21 3.2.4 Statistical analyses ....................................................................... 24 3.3 Specific methods and results ........................................................... 24 3.4 Discussion ........................................................................................ 43 4: Regional spectral responses in the eye of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)............................... 49 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 49 4.2 Materials and methods ..................................................................... 50 4.2.1 Origin and maintenance of IMM colony ......................................... 50 4.2.2 Scanning electron micrographs of compound eyes ...................... 51 v 4.2.3 Electroretinogram responses of eye regions to LED stimuli (experiments 1, 2) ......................................................................... 54 4.2.4 Attraction of IMMs with partially occluded eyes to a 405-nm LED (experiments 3, 4) ................................................................. 55 4.2.5 Statistical Analyses ....................................................................... 56 4.3 Results ............................................................................................. 57 4.3.1 Scanning electron micrographs of compound eyes ...................... 57 4.3.2 Attraction of IMMs with partially occluded eyes

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