Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Low-Cost Automated Flight Intercept Trap for the Temporal Sub-Sampling of Flying Insects Attracted to Artificial Light at Night
06:19

Low-Cost Automated Flight Intercept Trap for the Temporal Sub-Sampling of Flying Insects Attracted to Artificial Light at Night

Published on: December 29, 2021

Why flying insects gather at artificial light.

Samuel T Fabian1, Yash Sondhi2,3, Pablo E Allen4

  • 1Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. s.fabian@imperial.ac.uk.

Nature Communications
|January 30, 2024
PubMed
Summary

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The aerial combat strategy of dragonflies.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same author

Activity Responses of Rana forreri and Rhinella horribilis Tadpoles to Predation Cues.

Integrative and comparative biology·2026
Same author

The nuptial dance of male mayflies helps avoid mistaken interception by other males.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026
Same author

Predation via motion parallax in one of two gleaning insects.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026
Same author

Praying mantises possess multiple spectral photoreceptor classes.

Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology·2025
Same author

Gene Family Evolution Suggests Correlated Dietary Adaptations in Butterflies and Moths.

Genome biology and evolution·2025
Same journal

Large-scale discovery and annotation of substructure patterns in mass spectrometry profiles.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

Salmonella SopB suppresses post-transcriptionally regulated cytokine release to reduce early tissue inflammation and delay disease progression.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

A human-specific microRNA controls the timing of excitatory synaptogenesis.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

An HMA-like integrated domain in the wheat tandem kinase WTK4 recognises an RNase-like pathogen effector.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

Learning regularities in noise engages both neural predictive activity and representational changes.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

The H3K4 methyltransferase KMT2D is an essential cofactor for GATA1 at erythroid gene enhancers.

Nature communications·2026
See all related articles
This summary is machine-generated.

Nocturnal insects fly erratically around lights because their conserved dorsal-light response causes them to steer in circles. This behavior, observed using 3D flight analysis, explains why insects gather around artificial lights.

Area of Science:

  • Entomology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Biomechanics

Background:

  • The erratic flight of nocturnal insects around artificial lights has long been a mystery.
  • Previous theories like "lunar navigation" and "escape to the light" lacked rigorous testing due to insufficient 3D flight data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the precise flight mechanisms of insects around artificial light sources.
  • To determine the underlying cause of the characteristic erratic flight patterns observed in nocturnal insects near lights.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized high-resolution motion capture in laboratory settings.
  • Employed stereo-videography in field studies to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) insect flight kinematics.
  • Developed a guidance model to simulate insect flight behavior.

More Related Videos

Key Elements of Photo Attraction Bioassay for Insect Studies or Monitoring Programs
05:17

Key Elements of Photo Attraction Bioassay for Insect Studies or Monitoring Programs

Published on: July 26, 2018

Flying Insect Detection and Classification with Inexpensive Sensors
05:16

Flying Insect Detection and Classification with Inexpensive Sensors

Published on: October 15, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Low-Cost Automated Flight Intercept Trap for the Temporal Sub-Sampling of Flying Insects Attracted to Artificial Light at Night
06:19

Low-Cost Automated Flight Intercept Trap for the Temporal Sub-Sampling of Flying Insects Attracted to Artificial Light at Night

Published on: December 29, 2021

Key Elements of Photo Attraction Bioassay for Insect Studies or Monitoring Programs
05:17

Key Elements of Photo Attraction Bioassay for Insect Studies or Monitoring Programs

Published on: July 26, 2018

Flying Insect Detection and Classification with Inexpensive Sensors
05:16

Flying Insect Detection and Classification with Inexpensive Sensors

Published on: October 15, 2014

Main Results:

  • Insects do not fly directly towards artificial lights; instead, they orient their dorsum towards the light source.
  • This dorsal-tilting behavior generates flight paths perpendicular to the light, leading to continuous steering around the light.
  • The conserved dorsal-light response, crucial for flight control under natural light, inadvertently traps insects around artificial lights.

Conclusions:

  • The dorsal-light response is the primary driver of insect flight patterns around artificial lights.
  • This behavior sufficiently explains the seemingly erratic flight paths and aggregation of insects near artificial light sources.
  • The findings challenge previous attraction-based theories and provide a new mechanistic model for insect phototaxis.