Attraction to Lights

[Roger C. KENDRICK]

Dave Chesmore wrote:
> .....
> There seems to be very little about attraction of insects to light in the
> literature, and what there is appears to be inconclusive. ....
> Does anyone have any thoughts, comments or know of recent work
> relating to this?

Dave,

the following references are extracted from my BSc 3rd year
dissertation; if you know of them already, my apologies for bothering
you, if not - hope you find something of use.

* Baker R.R. & Sadovy Y. (1978). The distance and nature of the
light-trap response of moths. Nature 276 : 818-821.

* Belton P. & Kempster R.H. (1963). Some factors affecting the catches
of Lepidoptera in light traps. The Canadian Entomologist 95 : 832-837.

* Bowden J. (1973). The influence of moonlight on catches of insects in
light-traps in Africa. Part I. The moon and moonlight. Bull. ent. Res.
63 : 113-128.

* Bowden J. (1982). An analysis of factors affecting catches of insects
in light traps. Bull. ent. Res. 72 : 535-556.

* Bowden J. & Church B.M. (1973). The influence of moonlight on catches
of insects in light-traps in Africa. Part II. The effect of moon phase
on light-trap catches. Bull. ent. Res. 63 : 129-142.

* Bowden J. & Morris M.G. (1975). The influence of moonlight on catches
of insects in light-traps in Africa. Part III. The effective radius of a
mercury vapour light trap and analysis of catches using effective
radius. Bull. ent. Res. 65 : 303-348.

* Brown E.S. (1970). Nocturnal insect flight direction in relation to
the wind. Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A). 45 (1-3) : 39-43.

* Dent D.R. & Pawar C.S. (1988). The influence of moonlight and weather
on catches of Helvicoverpa armigera (H|bner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in
light and pheromone traps. Bull. ent. Res. 78 : 365-377.

* Fisher R.A., Corbet A.S. & Williams C.B. (1943). The relationship
between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random
sample of an animal population. J. Anim. Ecol. 12 : 42-58.

* Heath J. (1970). Insect light traps. Leafl. Amat. Ent. Soc. no. 33. 15
pp.

* Kearns P.W.E. & Majerus M.E.N. (1987). Differential habitat selection
in the Lepidoptera: a note on deciduous versus coniferous woodland
habitats. Ent. Rec. J. Var. 99 : 103-106.

* Majerus M.E.N., Grigg A., Jones C., Salmon F., Strathdee A. &
Dearnaley N. (1994). Factors affecting habitat preferences in the
Lepidoptera.  Br. J. Ent. Nat. Hist. 7 : 129-137.

* McGeachie W.J. (1988). A remote sensing method for the estimation of
light-trap efficiency.  Bull. ent. Res. 78 : 379-385.

* Mikkola K. (1972). Behaviourial and electrophysiological responses of
night flying insects, especially Lepidoptera, to near-ultraviolet and
visible light. Ann. Zool. Fennici 9 : 225-254.

* Persson B. (1976). Influence of weather and nocturnal illumination on
the activity and abundance of populations of Noctuids (Lepidoptera) in
south coastal Queensland. Bull. ent. Res. 66 : 33-63.

* Robinson H.S. & Robinson P.J.M. (1950). Some notes on the observed
behavious of Lepidoptera in flight in the vicinity of light-sources
together with a description of a light trap designed to take
entomological samples. Ent. Gaz. 1 : 3-20.

* Siddorn J.W. & Brown P.S. (1971). A Robinson light trap modified for
segregating samples at predetermined time intervals, with notes on the
effect of moonlight on the periodicity of catches of insects. J. appl.
Ecol. 8 : 69-75.

* Strong D.R. (1979). Biogeographic dynamics of insect-host plant
communities. Annual Review of Entomology 24 : 89-119.

* Taylor L.R. (1963). Analysis of the effect of temperature of insects
in flight. J. anim. Ecol. 32 : 99-117.

* Taylor L.R. (1974). Insect migration, flight periodicity and the
boundary layer. J. Anim. Ecol. 43 (1) : 225-238.

* Taylor L.R. & Brown E.S. (1972). Effects of light-trap design and
illumination on samples of moths in the Kenya highlands.  Bull. ent.
Res. 62 : 91-112.

* Taylor L.R., French R.A. & Macauley E.D.M. (1973). Low altitude
migration and diurnal flight periodicity; the importance of Plusia gamma
L. (Lepidoptera: Plusiidae). J. Anim. Ecol. 42 (3) : 751-757.

* Vaishampayan S.M. & Verma R. (1982). Influence of moonlight and lunar
periodicity on the light-trap catches of grain pod-borer, Heliothis
armigera (Hb.) moths. Indian J. Ent. 44 : 206-212.

* Walker A.K. & Galbraith R.A. (1979). Collecting insects at lights: a
test of four types of lamp. New Zealand Entomologist 7 (1) : 83-85.

* Waring P. (1989). Comparison of light-trap catches in deciduous and
coniferous woodland habitats. Ent. Rec. J. Var. 101 : 1-10.

* Waring P. (1990). Abundance and diversity of moths in woodland
habitats. Ph.D. thesis (unpublished). Oxford Polytechnic. [now Oxford
Brookes University] **very comprehensive bibliography**

* Waring P. (1993). National Moth Conservation Project news bulletin 5.
Butterfly Conservation, Dedham, Essex

* Waring P. (1994). Moth traps and their use. British Wildlife 5 (3):
137-148.

* Waring P. (1995). Letter to the Editor - Habitat preference in the
Lepidoptera and patterns of distribution in light-traps.  Br. J. Ent.
Nat. Hist. 8 : 155-156.

Hope this helps,

Roger.
________________________________________________
Roger C. KENDRICK
PhD student & Demonstrator, Dept of Ecology & Biodiversity
The University of Hong Kong
fax: (852) 24885285
mailto:kendrick at hkusua.hku.hk
http://www.hku.hk/ecology/dd/pgs/roger/hkmoth.htm Hong Kong Moths
mail: Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre
      The University of Hong Kong
      Lam Kam Road, Shek Kong,
      Yuen Long, New Territories
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