Have you ever wondered why the butterfly that accidentally entered your house last night keeps flying around the ceiling light? Or why are lighted mosquito traps so effective? A recent study published on the bioRxiv preprint server reveals that the connection between insects and light can have profound effects on their bodies.

Samuel Fabian, a researcher at Imperial College London and co-author of this new paper, explains that light affects the regulation of the insect’s body. The researchers identified three key aspects that are reflected in the insects’ light-related behavior.

First, insects often turn upside down when they are close to the light and fall while trying to fly upside down. Second, insects usually start jumping after they pass the light beam, rising at a right angle and stopping before descending again.

Finally, scientists noticed that insects often fly at right angles to the light source and plan circular orbits around it rather than flying directly towards it. Although insects may seem mindlessly flying towards the light, it is actually thought that the body’s control systems somehow intervene to cause this behavior.

Scientists believe insects respond to the so-called “backlight response” by trying to hold the light with their backs as they approach. This phenomenon is also observed in some fish species and is a way of finding direction that allows animals to stay upright in space. Usually this mechanism works perfectly, but at dusk and at dawn the insects can lose control of their movements.

Researchers believe that the way insects respond to light through their dorsal light response determines their behavior. The question, therefore, is not what attracts the insects to the light, but what causes them to lose control of their movements as they approach the light. This exciting research may help reveal and explain many important aspects of the lives of the various insects that inhabit our world.