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The tethered flight performance of a laboratory population of Triatoma infestans (Klug) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. P. Ward  and
P. S. Baker
J. P. Ward
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
P. S. Baker
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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Abstract

The flight performance of a laboratory population of Triatoma infestans (Klug) was tested on a flight balance. Bugs adopted a typical flight posture which is described. They were capable of steady flight and produced reasonable amounts of lift. Flight durations were generally short, but capacity for flight rose to a peak in the third week after adult eclosion with the longest recorded flight being one of 2 h 40 min by a male. Sexual differences were slight; males had a slightly higher mean wing-beat frequency (57·8 Hz against 55·6 Hz), and a few more females than males made longer flights. Differences were noted between short and long fliers; the latter producing significantly more lift and showing signs of a flight pattern divisible into rising, steady and falling phases. The short fliers showed only rising and falling phases. Lift and wing-beat frequency were correlated, but it is evident that lift also depends on other variables such as stroke-plane angle, body angle and wing-beat amplitude, which are discussed.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , March 1982 , pp. 17 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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