A simple flight chamber to determine flight activity in small insects

A flight chamber has been developed to enable the influence of temperature and other factors on the flight activity of small insects to be determined. The minimum temperatures for flight initiation in the grain beetles Ahasverus advena and Cryptolestes ferrugineus were 17.5 °C and 20 °C, respectively. When four strains of each species were compared, there was little difference between strains in their low temperature flight thresholds but greater differences in flight initiation at the near optimum temperature of 25 °C. No flight was observed in any of four strains of Oryzaephilus surinamensis over the temperature range 25–30 °C. The number of A. advena flying to a grain-filled bait unit suspended inside the top of the flight chamber increased when a pad moistened with water was added to the bait unit.