NEW AC ELECTRONIC INSECT FEEDING MONITOR FOR FINE-STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF WAVE-FORMS

We present here the design of a new version of the AC electronic monitoring system(EMS) for studying probing behaviors of piercing-sucking arthropods. Our version, the Missouri monitor, uses a differential amplifier employing common-mode rejection to dynamically cancel environmental noise of all frequencies, eliminating the need for bulky shielding or bandpass filtering. Combined with precision full-wave rectification, this amplifier produces waveform output with less noise, more stability and finer detail than any other AC EMS design. Previously unrecognized waveform patterns can be recorded. Yet, overall waveform patterns can easily be recognized and interpreted based on those in the AC EMS literature. Additional design features include high-quality operational amplifiers, optional logarithmic amplification of the signal, and selection of any frequency between 10 and 5,000 Hz.