Abstract
Mating-induced reductions in female receptivity are common in insects. These responses are of interest because of their utility in insect pest control. In addition, the control of receptivity is likely to be the subject of sexual conflict over remating frequency. We investigated the specific effect of male sterility on female receptivity in an important pest species, the Mediterranean fruitfly (medfly), in which sterile males are often used for population suppression. Sterile males performed less courtship, obtained significantly fewer first and second matings than fertile males, and reduced female receptivity significantly less effectively than did fertile males. We modelled the likelihood of fertile matings and show that the low mating success of sterile males represents a significant problem for medfly sterile insect technique (SIT) programmes.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (82.9 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bonizzoni M., Katsoyannos B. I., Marguerie R., Guglielmino C. R., Gasperi G., Malacrida A., Chapman T. Microsatellite analysis reveals remating by wild Mediterranean fruit fly females, Ceratitis capitata. Mol Ecol. 2002 Oct;11(10):1915–1921. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2002.01602.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman T., Miyatake T., Smith H. K., Partridge L. Interactions of mating, egg production and death rates in females of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. Proc Biol Sci. 1998 Oct 7;265(1408):1879–1894. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1998.0516. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mossinson S., Yuval B. Regulation of sexual receptivity of female Mediterranean fruit flies: old hypotheses revisited and a new synthesis proposed. J Insect Physiol. 2003 Jun;49(6):561–567. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(03)00027-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ostlund R. E., Jr, Yang J. W., Heath-Monnig E., Semenkovich C. F. Increased low density lipoprotein receptor expression mediated through the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor in cultured fibroblasts. Mol Endocrinol. 1994 Jul;8(7):904–909. doi: 10.1210/mend.8.7.7527123. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Saudan Philippe, Hauck Klaus, Soller Matthias, Choffat Yves, Ottiger Michael, Spörri Michael, Ding Zhaobing, Hess Daniel, Gehrig Peter M., Klauser Stefan. Ductus ejaculatorius peptide 99B (DUP99B), a novel Drosophila melanogaster sex-peptide pheromone. Eur J Biochem. 2002 Feb;269(3):989–997. doi: 10.1046/j.0014-2956.2001.02733.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shelly TE. Male signalling and lek attractiveness in the Mediterranean fruit fly. Anim Behav. 2000 Aug;60(2):245–251. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1470. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]