phototacticadj.
/ˌfəʊtə(ʊ)ˈtaktɪk/, U.S. /ˌfoʊdoʊˈtæktɪk/ Biology.
Of the nature of, exhibiting, or characterized by phototaxis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > movement > movement in response to stimuli > [adjective] > response to light
phototactic1882
phototropic1883
photophilous1890
photopathic1897
photophil1897
heliotactic1898
photokinetic1900
photophilic1900
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) iii. iii. 752 Zoogonidia which exhibit these phenomena are said, by Strasburger, to be phototactic.
1907 Jrnl. Exper. Zool. 5 72 Any organism is said to be positively phototactic when it moves towards the source of light and negatively phototactic when it goes in the opposite direction.
1938 L. Hogben Sci. for Citizen xxii. 1020 Pronounced phototactic reactions are well seen in some insects. The flight of the moth to the candle is proverbial.
1976 Sci. Amer. June 42/1 I had noticed a phototactic response in H. halobium; the cells reversed their direction of swimming when the intensity of illumination was decreased in the red part of the spectrum.
1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) iii. 304/2 At first, larvae are positively phototactic and swim toward light.
Derivatives
photoˈtactically adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > movement > movement in response to stimuli > [adverb] > response to light
phototropically1899
phototactically1914
photokinetically1952
1914 Jrnl. Exper. Zool. 17 273 Animals, such as the blowfly larva, which respond phototactically to horizontal light.
2002 M. D. Greenfield Signalers & Receivers v. 226 Hymenopteran parasitoids of mycetophilid fungus gnats can locate their hosts phototactically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1882