摘要
The flight activity of Spodoptera litura in tethered conditions is evaluated using a computer-mediated flight-mill in the laboratory. The 3-4-day-old moths fly longer and farther than those of other ages. Male and female moths exhibit similar flight activity. Mating status does not influence the flight duration and distance of 2-day-old females. However, these two flight parameters with a 6-day-old mated female is significantly lower than that of tmmated ones. The optimum temperature for flight ranged from 16-24℃, whereas the optimum RH ranged from 60%--100%. During 72-h period, the total flight duration and distance of 1-day-old male and female moths were 19.6 h （± 5.8） and 83.3 km （± 28.4）, and 24.0 h （± 7.0） and 105.4 km （± 37.4）, respectively. These results indicate that S. litura has a great potential to undertake long-distance migratory flights.
The flight activity of Spodoptera litura in tethered conditions is evaluated using a computer-mediated flight-mill in the laboratory. The 3-4-day-old moths fly longer and farther than those of other ages. Male and female moths exhibit similar flight activity. Mating status does not influence the flight duration and distance of 2-day-old females. However, these two flight parameters with a 6-day-old mated female is significantly lower than that of tmmated ones. The optimum temperature for flight ranged from 16-24℃, whereas the optimum RH ranged from 60%--100%. During 72-h period, the total flight duration and distance of 1-day-old male and female moths were 19.6 h （± 5.8） and 83.3 km （± 28.4）, and 24.0 h （± 7.0） and 105.4 km （± 37.4）, respectively. These results indicate that S. litura has a great potential to undertake long-distance migratory flights.
基金
We thank Dr. Yong-Jun Zhang, Dr. Gui-Rong Wang and Dr. Ge-Mei Liang for help in this work, and Mrs. LanZhi Han, Guo-Ping Li, Hong-Hua Su, and Mrs. Ke-Jian Lin, Shu-Dong Luo for their help with the data analysis, and Dr. Gul Zamin Khan for reviewing this paper critically. This research was supported by financial assistance from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （30625028）, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology （2006CB 102007, 2006BAD08A07）.
