Time measurement in the photoperiodic induction of sexual rest in the terrestrial Isopod Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille)

Abstract

The photoperiodic control of sexual rest in Armadillidium vulgare was investigated using various experimental protocols. When reared in conditions of a Nanda–Hamner (i.e resonance) protocol from their first parturial moult to their post experimental moult, females showed a weak resonance effect in sexual rest incidence. The transfer from a long day cycle to a symmetrical skeleton photoperiod – consisting of two equal light pulses per 24 h of continuous darkness – revealed the involvement of a circadian oscillatory system in the photoperiodic clock of this species. The data, obtained in the whole experiments, suggested that both oscillator and hourglass features are involved in the photoperiodic response controlling the sexual rest in Armadillidium vulgare. Moreover, when non-24-h light–dark cycles (with a long photophase) were applied, a mechanism responsible of arrest of reproduction also implied a photoperiodic counter which accumulated and added up the photoperiodic information within a sensitive period during post parturial intermoult.