Age Influence on Sexual Behavior of the Lesser Cornstalk Borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the reproductive behavior and response of Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) males to calling females. Frequency of mating was recorded in couples during the first 7 days of the adult stage. Calling behavior of females was observed during the first 4 days of the adult stage and responses of males, in the same age intervals, to calling females were recorded in wind tunnel bioassays. The maximum number of matings occurred when the couple was between 24 and 48 h old. The scotophase period significantly influenced mating behavior, which peaked between 6 and 8 h of darkness and the mean mating duration was 93.9 ± 4.2 min. Calling females, when evaluated in a wind tunnel, attracted significantly more males than in bioassays with clean air (control). The number of individuals in calling behavior was significantly lower for females that were between 0 to 24 h old compared to the other females evaluated, but this did not influence male response. A lower proportion of males between 48 to 72 h old responded to calling females and these responses were delayed in comparison with males of other ages (0 to 24, 24 to 48, and 72 to 96 h old). These results indicate that the age of E. lignosellus males influences the response to conspecific calling females.

Geographic variation in sexual communication in the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera

“…Previous studies also found that photoperiod and temperature affect the age that females initiate calling . This variation hints at physiological differences in sexual maturation, which could be an adaptation to changes in different photoperiodic and temperature conditions, especially for migratory species …”

“…Variation in timing of sexual behaviors in moths, such as female calling and pheromone release, has been extensively studied under laboratory conditions, showing that these sexual behaviors are affected by abiotic factors, such as photoperiod, temperature, relative humidity and wind speed . Sexual behaviors in moths may also be affected by biotic and physiological factors, such as age, host plants, larval diet, pupal period and insecticides . In addition, variation in moth sexual communication may be caused through communication interference between closely related species in areas of sympatry .…”

Geographic variation in genetic composition, sexual communication and mating compatibility of the False Codling Moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta for optimisation of area-wide control

“…In moth species, geographic variation may arise as a result of avoiding inbreeding with closely related sympatric species that share key pheromone components (McElfresh and Millar, 1999;Groot et al, 2008;Sadek et al, 2012). Variation can also be manifested in the timing of sexual behaviours or be a consequence of physiological, biotic, and abiotic factors such as age (Swier et al, 1977;Noldus and Potting, 1990;Xavier et al, 2018), nutrition (Casimero et al, 2001), temperature (Conner et al, 1985;Delisle and McNeil, 1987), relative humidity (Webster and Carde, 1982;Royer and McNeil, 1991), photoperiod (Delisle and McNeil, 1986;Noldus and Potting, 1990;Kamimura and Tatsuki, 1994), host plants (Landolt and Phillips, 1997), wind speed (Conner et al, 1985), and insecticides (Shen et al, 2013;Navarro-Roldań and Gemeno, 2017). Therefore, it is essential to understand the local sex pheromone blends and local timings of sexual communication for effective field implementation of sex pheromone-dependent control tools (Gao et al, 2020).…”