Abstract
ATTENTION has recently been directed to the close parallel that exists between the rhythm of biting activity in certain East African mosquitoes and the bimodal flight activity of the Trichoptera, and it is suggested that in insects showing abrupt ‘eo-crepuscular’ activity the control is mainly microclimatic1. If this is so, the diurnal rhythm must be largely ‘exogenous’ in nature and would not persist under constant environmental conditions as ‘endogenous’ rhythms do. The majority of animal species, however, show a combination of both types, and such periodicity is designated ‘composite’. This type of rhythm occurs in cockroaches and has recently been shown to have a neurosecretory basis2.
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Haddow, A. J., Nature, 177, 531 (1956).
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Cloudsley-Thompson, J. L., Acta Med. Scand. Supp. (in the press); J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) (in the press).
Cloudsley-Thompson, J. L., J. Exp. Biol., 29, 285 (1952).
Cloudsley-Thompson, J. L., J. Exp. Biol. (in the press).
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CLOUDSLEY-THOMPSON, J. Diurnal Rhythms of Activity in Terrestrial Arthropods. Nature 178, 215 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178215a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/178215a0
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