Designation of chemicals in terms of the locomotor responses they elicit from insects: an update of Dethier et al. (1960)

Abstract

A scheme updating that of Dethier et al. (1960) (J. Econ. Entomol. 53: 134-136) for chemicals influencing insect locomotor behavior is introduced. Attractant, repellent, and arrestant retain their previous definitions. However, attractants or repellents are now recognized to operate both by kinetic and tactic mechanisms. Locomotor initiator is a new term for stimuli that activate normal levels of kinetic locomotion. Locomotor stimulant is reserved for activation of abnormally high kinetic locomotion, like that arising upon sublethal exposure to certain insecticides. The new terms engagent and disengagent apply to chemicals that, by their effects on locomotion, increase or decrease interaction with the source of stimulation, respectively. With these clarifications, insect behavioral terms unique to medical entomology but contradicting Dethier et al.'s classical scheme can be reconciled with the vocabulary of formal behavioral science.