The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been applied successfully for the control of several fruit fly species of economic importance. In species with lek mating systems, as in the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae) -where the variance in male mating success is high, males have to compete with other males, and where wild females are highly selective -the success of SIT depends on the sexual competitiveness of mass-reared sterile males. However, mass-rearing conditions result in selection of sexual behavioral traits that differ from wild flies, reducing mating competitiveness of sterile flies and SIT efficiency. Artificial selection in mass-rearing colonies, based on male mating success, represents an alternative to improve the sexual performance of sterile males. Here, we evaluated the effect of selection of A. ludens mass-reared males based on their mating competitiveness. Two modes of selection were compared, one single selection event on parental flies, and continuous selection along four consecutive generations. For the offspring of each treatment in each generation, we evaluated male mating success, its association with post-copulatory behavior through female remating inhibition, and life-history traits that are key for mass-rearing, such as immature survival and reproduction. Field cage mating tests revealed that wild males were more competitive than mass-reared males (selected and unselected). Although no significant differences were found between mass-reared selected and non-selected males, in the fourth generation males from the selected colonies performed better than males from the non-selected colonies and their mating competitiveness was similar to that of wild males. No consistent differences were observed in mating latency, copulation duration, or ability to inhibit female remating. Survival and fecundity decreased with increasing rearing generations, except in the colony with continuous selection where fecundity and fertility increased.
Male mating success depends on various traits and factors, and correctly identifying these traits can be key in the context of pest management. For tephritid pests, controlled through the sterile insect technique (SIT) traits, such as male size, can be manipulated through mass-rearing procedures. Thus, it is particularly important to understand whether male size can favor mating success. Here, we evaluated mating success of males of different sizes in Anastrepha ludens and Anastrepha obliqua, two species controlled through SIT. For both species, a morphometric analysis was performed of mated and unmated mass-reared and wild males in field cages. In both A. ludens and A. obliqua, wild females did not discriminate their mates based on male size and mated more frequently with wild males regardless of size. For mass-reared males, we found no evidence of an advantage of the large males compared to small males in mating success. However, we did find differences between the morphometric traits of mass-reared and wild males. In A. ludens, traits associated to mating success were Face Width (FW), Head Width (HW), Thorax Length (TL) and Wing Length (WL), and for A. obliqua were FW, HW, WL and WW (Wing Width). Overall, FW and TL were more consistent predictors of mating success. In conclusion, female choice seems to suggest multivariate selection, confirming that overall body size (expressed as pupal diameter, which is highly correlated with weight) is not a decisive factor in male mating success in these two species. However, morphological traits such as FW, HW, TL, WL and WW may be relevant in mating preference of wild female.
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.