Mating behavior and genitalic counterparts in tiger beetles (Carabidae: Cicindelinae)

Abstract

131Comparative studies on the structure of genitalia in Pseudoxychila tarsalis Bates and the copulating behavior in 5 species of Cicindela respectively complement similar findings by Freitag [ 1) on Cicindela spp. and Palmer [ 4] on P. tarsal is. These strengthen the hypothesis that in tiger beetles the flagellum fits into the spermatheca duct during copulation; that the main function of the flagellum, which is closed at the apex and not connected to the ejaculatory duct, is to open and prepare the lumen of the spermatheca duct for sperm movement from the bursa copulatrix to the spermatheca; and that copulation proceeds in 3 phases: phase 1 in which the lumen of the spermatheca duct is cleared by the flagellum, phase 2 in which the flagellum is withdrawn from the spermatheca duct, and phase 3 in which semen is transferred from the gonopore of the ejaculatory duct to the bursa copulatrix, usually with a spermatophore.

MATING BEHAVIOR OF TWO PSEUDOXYCHILA BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CICINDELIDAE)

“…three phases when spermatophore transfer was studied in P. tarsalis (Rodriguez S. 1998). Thus, the "phases of copulation" of Pseudoxychila should not be used to evaluate hypotheses of functional sexual morphology (i.e., Freitag et al 1980) or phylogeny (i.e., Fielding and Knisley 1995). There was geographic variation within P: tarsalis in the frequency of prying and small thrusts, copulation length, the number and length of intromissions, and the frequency of spermatophore ejection.…”

Taxonomic review of Australian Mecyclothorax Sharp (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Moriomorphini) with special emphasis on the M. lophoides (Chaudoir) species complex

“…These act to hold the flagellum in the duct when required, but can be detached from the ductʼs surface through flagellar flexion when removal of the flagellum is required (Freitag et al 2001). The flagellum ranges from about half the length of the spermathecal duct to slightly longer than the duct in four species of Cicindela and Pseudoxychila tarsalis Bates (Freitag 1966, Freitag et al 1980, Rodríguez 1999. In all instances, the flagellar diameter is similar to the diameter of the spermathecal duct, though the flagellar base is larger than the duct and presumably does not enter it.…”

Ecomorphology and Mating Behavior of Two Species of Night-stalking Tiger Beetles, Omus audouini and O. dejeanii

“…Observations of mating in Cicindela species have reported periods during which the male will remain mounted on the female post-intromission but without genital contact, an act strongly suggestive of mate guarding, or will repeatedly insert and then fully withdraw his aedeagus while mounted, presumably as a way to extract seminal products from previous partners before depositing his own as a form of direct sperm competition (Willis 1967, Freitag et al 1980, Kraus & Lederhouse 1983, Fielding & Knisley 1995. This was not the case for Omus -the male intromittent organ appeared to remain inserted in the female throughout the duration of the mount for all observations of both O. audouini and O. dejeanii.…”

“…Humidity and ingestible water was Appendix E: Microdissection of Omus aedagus While the processes involved in the measuring of external anatomy of animals is often self-evident, I found frusteratingly few resources to guide me on the extraction of internal structures. While male tiger beetle anatomy has been well described (Horn 1930, Freitag et al 1980, the process of removing the genitalia are rarely given in detail and, furthermore, the images given are disembodied and without positional context. As a consequence I was motivated to develop an explicit protocal governing the process of male genitalia extraction starting from either a freshly killed or EtOH-preserved specimen to fully disembodied organ.…”

“…A generalized three-stage sequence of mating behaviors has been proposed for tiger beetles (Freitag et al 1980, Fielding & Knisley 1995 modeled as (1) initial mount with near-simultaneous intromission, (2) partial or full withdrawal of aedagus while the male remained mounted (presumably to clear any pre-existing seminal products from recent matings out of the spermathecal tract) and (3) a relatively brief reinsertion of aedagus and subsequent dismount of male from female (demonstrated to involve a repositioning of the aedagus within the female genital tract and deposition of seminal products by the current male) (Freitag et al 1980). However, behavioral variations among and even within species show that this three-stage model cannot be applied to all species (Fielding & Knisley 1995, Rodriguez 1998).…”