Activity and the orthokinetic response of larval Trichonema to light
- 1 May 1966
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Parasitology
- Vol. 56 (2), 307-312
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182000070906
Abstract
Dark-adapted third-stage Trichonema larvae were orthokinetically stimulated by light. The response soon reached a maximum and then gradually decreased, the larvae then being inactive as long as they were kept in light. The rate of response was independent of intensity, and was a constant for any one age. Inactive larvae were activated by a mechanical stimulus, and were therefore only insensitive to light.The larvae needed 3 h adaptation in darkness before responding fully to a further light stimulus. Dark-adaptation required continuous darkness; larvae exposed to a flashing light responded as if in continuous light. The presence of a light-sensitive mechanism is postulated.I thank Professor B. G. Peters for discussion of this work, and for reading the manuscript.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Phototactic and thermotactic responses of the filariform larvae of the rat nematode Nippostrongylus murisExperimental Parasitology, 1960
- On the Infective Larva of Ostertagia circumcincta (Stadelmann, 1894), a Stomach Parasite of SheepJournal of Helminthology, 1928