Odor-guided flight in moths

Male Moth Behavior in Odor Plume

This is the flight track of a Manduca sexta male as he tracks a pheromone plume upwind to it's source (wind is blowing from right to left). In this image the moth's position is marked with a dot each 1/30 second and the orientation of the moth's body is represented by the stick attached to the dot. A number of the characteristics of in-flight odor tracking behavior are illustrated here:

1. The moth regularly alters his direction back-and-forth across the wind as he tracks the plume upwind.
2. Most of the straight-legs in between the turns are oriented at about 50° with respect to the wind.
3. The moth's body is usually not oriented in the same direction that it is flying, because it is being drifted off course by the wind it is flying into.
4. As the moth gets closer to the odor source it narrows it's flight track by slowing down and turning more frequently, effectively homing in on the source.

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