The rice leaf roller Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) is one of the most serious pests ofrice production in Asia.The speciesis a high-altitude nocturnal windborne migrant. The mothsmigrateannually from southern to northern China in spring and summer, and then return to southern China in the fall. The migration involves a series of nighttime flights rather than one continuous flight. Mothsusually land at dawn and take-off againthe following evening. Our previous studyreported their considerablecapacity to re-emigrate. However, the response of re-emigrating moths to ambient temperaturesremains unclear. The flight and re-emigration performance of C. medinalis in relation to temperature and their sex were examined in this studyby tethered flight with computer-based flight mills at different temperatures (20-29℃) in 2-d-old virgin females and males when take-off behavior occurred for the first time.The selection and adaptability of the flight process to temperature can help reveal the dynamic distribution and flight behavioral mechanisms of aerial migratory insects. The results showed that ambient temperature significantly influenced the re-emigratory flight performance of C. medinalis, although flight activities were normal between 20℃ and 29℃.Not all the measured flight parameters were significantly different between females and males at the same temperatures. The longest flight duration, fastest flight speed, greatest flight distance, and highest take-off proportion and re-emigration times were recorded at 26℃. Adults could fly for 3.42 successive nights on average, andthe maximum flight duration of six nights was observed at 26℃. However, most individuals could only complete a continuous flight for one night and could not take off for the second night at theother three temperatures. Although the re-emigration performance at 20℃ or 23℃ was similar to that at 29℃, different effects on the flight behavior were observed. The flight velocity was greatly reduced at low temperatures, which shortened the total flight distance. The mortality rate of moths after successive passive flights was significantly higher at 29℃ than at the other temperatures, thereby showing that high temperatures had a greater influence on the survival rate of moths engaging in long-duration flights than low temperatures. Active selection behavior for optimal flight temperature (i.e. the flight altitude) was exhibited by the airborne migrants to avoid or reduce unnecessary energy costsduring migration wheneverpossible. We suggest that re-emigration flight can be momentarily terminated if the environmental temperature is significantly lower than the optimal flight temperature for C. medinalis. Airborne migrants may choose the most optimal flight altitudefor different migration seasons, according to the weather system on a small or moderate scale.