Extraoptic Celestial Orientation in the Southern Cricket Frog Acris gryllus

Abstract

Celestial orientation and setting of the biological clock in the southern cricket frog Acris gryllus can be cued by light stimuli received by extraoptic receptors in the brain. These extraoptic photoreceptors may also be used in learning new orientational directions. A mechanism for a light-activated biological clock is discussed.

The Orientation of Migrant and Non‐Migrant Monarch Butterflies,Danaus Plexippus (L.)

“…The sun was selected as the most probable cue in the orientation of Monarch butterflies for several reasons: (1) the Monarch is a diurnal animal and the sun is a prominent cue in its environment; (2) a positive phototaxis has been reported in a number of Lepidoptera (Brandt, 1934;Collins, 1935;Dolley, 1916;Jander, 1963;and Kelsheimer, 1935); (3) the sun has been shown to be important in the orientation of a number of animals (Hasler, 1967;Schmidt-Koenig, 1961;Taylor and Ferguson, 1969;and von Frisch, 1967), including migrating European butterflies (Baker, 1968a,b).…”

Extraretinal light receptors can mediate photoperiodic photoreception in the male lizardAnolis carolinensis

“…The biological "clock" controlling circadian locomotor rhythms in fish, amphibians, lizards (including A. carolinensis), and birds can also be entrained (synchronized) by 24 hour light-dark cycles after blinding (Menaker, 1968;Adler, 1969Adler, , 1971Taylor and Ferguson, 1970;Underwood and Menaker, 1970;Erikson, 1972;Underwood, 1973). Whether the cxtraretinal receptors involved in photoperiodic photoreception and those involved in entrainment of the biological clock are identical, however, is still very much an open question.…”

No response to linear polarization cues in operant conditioning experiments with zebra finches

“…Nevertheless, there is behavioural and physiological evidence for polarization sensitivity from all classes of vertebrates, apart from mammals (with the exception of humans) (for recent reviews, see Muheim, 2011;Åkesson, 2014;McGregor et al, 2014;Meyer-Rochow, 2014a;Meyer-Rochow, 2014b;Roberts, 2014). Amphibian and reptilian polarization sensitivity is primarily mediated by extraocular photoreceptors in the pineal gland (Adler and Taylor, 1973;Taylor and Adler, 1978), the frontal organ (Taylor and Ferguson, 1970;Justis and Taylor, 1976) and in the parietal eye (Freake, 1999;Beltrami et al, 2012). In fish, in contrast, polarization reception appears to be predominantly ocular, even though a role of the pineal gland cannot be excluded (Willis et al, 2009).…”