A comparison of photoperiodic control of diapause between aestivation and hibernation in the cabbage butterfly Pieris melete

Abstract In the cabbage butterfly, Pieris melete , summer and winter diapause are induced principally by long and short daylengths, respectively; the intermediate daylengths (12–13 h) permit pupae to develop without diapause. In this study, photoperiodic control of summer and winter diapause was systematically investigated in this butterfly by examining the photoperiodic response, the number of days required to induce 50% summer and winter diapause and the duration of diapausing pupae induced under different photoperiods. Photoperiodic response curves at 18 and 20 °C showed that all pupae entered winter diapause at short daylengths (8–11 h), the incidence of diapause dropped to 82.3–85.5% at 22 °C without showing a significant difference between short daylengths, whereas the incidence of summer diapause induced by different long daylengths (14–18 h) was varied and was obviously affected by temperature. By transferring from various short daylengths (LD 8:16, LD 9:15, LD 10:14 and LD 11:13) to an intermediate daylength (LD 12.5:11.5) at different times after hatching, the number of cycles required to induce 50% winter diapause (7.28 at LD 8:16, 7.16 at LD 9:15, 7.60 at LD 10:14 and 6.94 at LD 11:13) showed no significant difference, whereas by transferring from various long daylengths (LD 14:10, LD 15:9, LD 16:8 and LD 17:7) to an intermediate daylength (LD 12.5:11.5) at different times, the number of cycles required to induce 50% summer diapause (5.95 at LD 14:10, 8.02 at LD 15:9, 6.80 at LD 16:8, 7.64 at LD 17:7) were significantly different. The intensity of winter diapause induced under different short daylengths (LD 8:16, LD 9:15, LD 10:14 and LD 11:13) was not significantly different with an average diapause duration of 87 days at a constant temperature of 20 °C and 92 days at a mean daily temperature of 19.0 °C, whereas the intensity of summer diapause induced under different long daylengths (LD 14:10, LD 15:9, LD 16:8 and LD 17:7) was significantly different (the diapause duration ranged from 75 to 86 days at a constant temperature of 20 °C and from 76 to 88 days at a mean daily temperature of 19.0 °C). All results suggested that photoperiodic control of diapause induction and termination is significantly different between aestivation and hibernation.