#menotaxis

[jeffersonbluejay]

[sciencebuds]

Menotaxis

Ever wondered why you see insects swiveling around light sources at night?

It is a strange yet at times beautiful phenomenon. Many of the insects end up dying doing this all-night long. Although it may seem that they came in search of heat or food, the reality is much more tragic.

It turns out that in most cases this activity is almost completely involuntary. This behavior is known as Menotaxis or transverse orientation and it is an innate function in many insects to guide their path. These insects have light sensitivity cells on their backs. When the sun or moon is above them they can maintain a path parallel to the ground by keeping the light source at 90 degrees.

When humans came up with the light bulb, the insects’ backs started responding to the light from bulb and so they fly in 90 degrees with the light bulb resulting them to revolve around the light.

The same technique is used by certain marine organisms (fishes) to swim upright. They use the sun’s light to keep their body upright in water.