Copulation behaviour of Lygocoris pabulinus under laboratory conditions

Abstract

As a prerequisite to the elucidation of the sex pheromone of the green capsid bug Lygocoris pabulinus (L.), we studied the bug's reproductive development and behaviour. When kept under long‐day conditions (L18:D6) at 25 °C, both males and females start to copulate 4 days after the final moult. Second matings occur in some females, even on consecutive days. The premating period is 10 min on average and copulation lasts 1 to 2 min. At long range, when males are attracted to traps baited with live females, we did not observe a specific calling position of the females. At short range, a characteristic courtship behaviour of the females was not observed either. Males showed a characteristic vibration of the abdomen, which was repeated several times before copulation. This behaviour can be used as a bioassay to test potential sex pheromone compounds.

Percussion signals of Lygus rugulipennis Poppius (Heteroptera: Miridae)

“…moths [26]). These results support other work in a closely-related mirid species, Lygocoris pabulinus as well [10]. In our experiments, both males and females were observed to emit percussion signals similar to another species, the Nearctic L. hesperus, where females have been reported to show similar behaviors toward males [3].…”

“…In our experiments, both males and females were observed to emit percussion signals similar to another species, the Nearctic L. hesperus, where females have been reported to show similar behaviors toward males [3]. Contrary to L. rugulipennis, in L. pabulinus only male signals were reported, elicited by abdominal vibration rather than percussion [10]. The fact that males of L. rugulipennis started signaling when the female was in their close vicinity suggests the presence of the female provided key stimuli which evoked male signaling.…”

“…Contrary to well studied communication at different levels in the pentatomid subfamily Pentatominae (reviewed by Čokl [7]), there are only scarce data on stridulatory structures in some African mirid bugs in the subfamilies Mirinae and Hyaliodinae [8,9]. Among the closely related species, the Nearctic Lygus hesperus was reported to tap on the surface during courtship behavior [3] and vibratory signals were recorded from male Lygocoris pabulinus [10].…”

Mating periodicity and post-mating refractory period in the zoophytophagous plant bug Macrolophus caliginosus (Heteroptera: Miridae)

“…In contrast to most heteropterans, female mirids release a volatile sex pheromone to attract males (Aldrich, 1988(Aldrich, , 1995Zhang & Aldrich, 2003;Innocenzi et al, 2005). At close-range contact pheromones may also play a role in sexual communication (Groot et al, 1998;Drijfhout et al, 2003). Courtship in mirids can be relatively elaborate, including wing flapping, antennal patting and abdominal vibration, but in many species precopulatory sequences are simple or almost absent (Wheeler, 2001).…”

Odour-mediated sexual attraction in nabids (Heteroptera: Nabidae)

“…Such studies have been carried out for phytophagous heteropterans (Groot et al, 1998;McBrien & Millar, 1999), showing that sex pheromone compounds may be obscured by products from glands that produce defensive secretions (Aldrich, 1988(Aldrich, , 1995. Elucidation of the chemical structure of the sex pheromone will provide new perspectives for analysing the sexual behaviour of nabids and contribute to the study of the ecology of this important group of predators (Koschel, 1971b;Remane & Thielen, 1973;Söcknick, 1974;Carayon, 1977;Richards & Harper, 1978;Kott, 2000, Roth & Reinhardt, 2003Roth & Remane, 2003 Response of male and female Nabis pseudoferus to odours of the opposite gender (I; II) and to odours of the same gender (III; IV) when offered against clean air.…”