Decreased mating propensity of macropterous morph in a flightless wing-polymorphic insect, Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera)

Title:

Decreased mating propensity of macropterous morph in a flightless wing-polymorphic insect, Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera)

Creator:

Socha, Radomír

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:426a5699-936c-444b-a33b-03ec86ca22c7
uuid:426a5699-936c-444b-a33b-03ec86ca22c7

Subject:

Pyrrhocoris apterus, non-functional wing polymorphism, wing morphs, males, females, mating success, and receptivity

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

The effect of wing length (brachyptery and macroptery) on mating activity was investigated in adult males and females of a flightless wing-polymorphic insect, Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.). Mating activity of the brachypterous and macropterous adult bugs was assessed according to 14 different parameters. The competition tests revealed higher numbers of copulations and greater duration of mating activity in brachypterous than in macropterous males. Brachypterous males are between two to four times more successful in competition for females than their macropterous counterparts, depending on the wing morph and physiological status of the females. Decreased mating success of macropterous males is associated with the smaller size of their accessory glands. Lowered competitive ability for mates is a likely penalty associated with macroptery. Receptivity tests showed the highest tendency to mate in reproductive brachypterous females, lower in macropterous females and the least in diapausing brachypterous females. This is the first report of decreased mating propensity of macropterous morphs in insects with non-functional wing polymorphism. The association of lowered mating success with the higher dispersal activity of the macropterous morph in this bug and a trade-off between the ability to reproduce and to disperse in the flightless wing-polymorphic insects is discussed.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2004 Volume:101 | Number:4

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false