New kind of polarotaxis governed by degree of polarization: attraction of tabanid flies to differently polarizing host animals and water surfaces.

Die Naturwissenschaften
Ádám EgriGábor Horváth

Abstract

Aquatic insects find their habitat from a remote distance by means of horizontal polarization of light reflected from the water surface. This kind of positive polarotaxis is governed by the horizontal direction of polarization (E-vector). Tabanid flies also detect water by this kind of polarotaxis. The host choice of blood-sucking female tabanids is partly governed by the linear polarization of light reflected from the host's coat. Since the coat-reflected light is not always horizontally polarized, host finding by female tabanids may be different from the established horizontal E-vector polarotaxis. To reveal the optical cue of the former polarotaxis, we performed choice experiments in the field with tabanid flies using aerial and ground-based visual targets with different degrees and directions of polarization. We observed a new kind of polarotaxis being governed by the degree of polarization rather than the E-vector direction of reflected light. We show here that female and male tabanids use polarotaxis governed by the horizontal E-vector to find water, while polarotaxis based on the degree of polarization serves host finding by female tabanids. As a practical by-product of our studies, we explain the enigmatic attractivenes...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 24, 2013·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Lars A Meyer, S Mazeika P Sullivan
Apr 15, 2014·Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases·Frédéric BaldacchinoSathaporn Jittapalapong
Dec 17, 2014·Parasite : Journal De La Société Française De Parasitologie·Stjepan KrčmarIgor Lukačević
Oct 4, 2019·PloS One·Tomoki KojimaKatsutoshi Kino
May 13, 2020·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·T BučanovićS Krčmar
Feb 26, 2019·Royal Society Open Science·Gábor HorváthGyörgy Kriska
Oct 9, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Andrej MegličGregor Belušič

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