TY  - JOUR
A1  - Joschinski, Jens
A1  - Beer, Katharina
A1  - Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
T1  - Pea Aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Have Diurnal Rhythms When Raised Independently of a Host Plant
JF  - Journal of Insect Science
N2  - Seasonal timing is assumed to involve the circadian clock, an endogenous mechanism to track time and measure day length. Some debate persists, however, and aphids were among the first organisms for which circadian clock involvement was questioned. Inferences about links to phenology are problematic, as the clock itself is little investigated in aphids. For instance, it is unknown whether aphids possess diurnal rhythms at all. Possibly, the close interaction with host plants prevents independent measurements of rhythmicity. We reared the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) on an artificial diet, and recorded survival, moulting, and honeydew excretion. Despite their plant-dependent life style, aphids were independently rhythmic under light–dark conditions. This first demonstration of diurnal aphid rhythms shows that aphids do not simply track the host plant’s rhythmicity.
KW  - artificial diet
KW  - circadian clock
KW  - hourglass clock
KW  - Acyrthosiphon pisum
KW  - photoperiodism
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-168783
VL  - 16
IS  - 1
ER  -