Behaviour towards an unpreferred colour: can green flowers attract foraging hawkmoths?

Abstract

Nave hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) learn from a single trial to approach and attempt to feed from an artificial flower of an innately unpreferred green colour even when a distractor flower with a preferred yellow colour is present. In some of the animals, the choice of the innately unpreferred colour during free-flight testing persists for several days despite not being rewarded and eventually leads to starvation. The results show that moths exhibit a very strong flower constancy that is not limited to the colours of nectar flowers.

Keywords

colour; hawkmoths; flower constancy; foraging; long-term memory; one-trial learning

Published in

Journal of Experimental Biology
2010, volume: 213, number: 19, pages: 3257-3262
Publisher: COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD

SLU Authors

• Balkenius, Anna

  • Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.045161

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60623