広島県呉市におけるゲンジボタル幼虫の上陸行動

抄録

Mature larvae of Genji firefly, Luciola cruciata are known to move from water habitat to terrestrials before pupation. The knowledge on the relation of this climbing behavior and the environmental factors can be utilized for the conservation of the species, but it is incomplete. In this study, we investigated the behavior of climbing larvae and the environmental conditions from April to May, 2005. The following five factors are discussed in terms of the frequency of the climbing behavior: air temperature, water temperature, relative humidity, intensity of illumination and weather. The larvae climbed to the land when both of the air and water temperatures were 10℃ or more but the difference is within 2℃. Humidity is not an important factor to constrain the climbing behavior. The climbing behavior of larvae was frequently observed in low intensity of illumination, but the number of individuals decreased at 0.04lux or more. In addition, the decline of air pressure would be an important factor to affect the number of climbing larvae.