Patterns of sperm storage in twice-mated Queensland fruit flies

Postcopulatory Behavior of Tephritid Flies

“…Further evidence of sperm storage asymmetry is evident in the fact that the VR is more likely to store sperm from both males than are the spermathecae. In B. tryoni, females store more sperm from the second mate in the spermathecae where fewer sperm from the first mate have been stored (137). In Ceratitis capitata, sperm storage asymmetry was 23.6% on average between the two spermathecae and was negatively related to the total number of sperm stored (153).…”

“…Females can store a large quantity of sperm; for example, Bactrocera tryoni females can store approximately 8,000 sperm (137,138). There is variation in the morphology and the number of the spermathecae according to species.…”

Multi-locus genotyping of stored sperm reveals female remating rates in wild populations of the Queensland fruit fly

“…It is expected that in wild remated females the relative titres of stored sperm from their mates may vary greatly. We assessed the robustness of the multi-locus PCR assay in detecting alleles of low relative quantities in artificially constructed sperm mixtures of known allelic ratios using three Qfly lines homozygous for Bt32-90, Bt32-92 and Bt32-105 of the microsatellite marker Bt32 ( Shadmany et al., 2021a ). Separate sperm solutions were prepared from male Bt32-90 and Bt32-105 genotypes by first crossing these males individually with Bt32-92 females.…”

Reproductive behavior of fruit flies: courtship, mating, and oviposition

“…In Bactrocera tryoni and A. suspensa, females tend to take longer to mate for the first time than the second, and sperm storage in the first male plays a decisive role in the timing of mating for the second male. 116 For A. ludens, the number of stored sperm has no role in female receptivity, despite this species having the longest time to first copulation. 117 Anastrepha obliqua and Ceratitis capitata differ from the other fruit flies in that their mating times are independent of the number of mating sessions, and the amount of stored sperm in Ceratitis capitata inhibits its mating ability.…”

“…Female receptivity to remating depends on the quality of the first mating, and this receptivity can be regulated by males, similar to accessory gland protein (AGP), sperm storage, and ejaculation situations. In Bactrocera tryoni and A. suspensa , females tend to take longer to mate for the first time than the second, and sperm storage in the first male plays a decisive role in the timing of mating for the second male 116 . For A. ludens , the number of stored sperm has no role in female receptivity, despite this species having the longest time to first copulation 117 .…”