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Mating aggregation of a stink bug, Megacopta punctissimum (Montandon) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae)
Author(s) -
Hibino Yoshinori,
Itô Yosiaki
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
population ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1438-390X
pISSN - 1438-3896
DOI - 10.1007/bf02528791
Subject(s) - biology , lobata , harem , heteroptera , mating , sex ratio , zoology , population , ecology , demography , pueraria , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , sociology
Summary Adults of a stink bug, Megacopta punctissimum , form aggregations on stems of the bush‐clover, Lespedeza crytobotria , in spring. They do not oviposit there, but feed and mate within aggregations. Oviposition is made on other leguminous plants such as the kudzu‐vine, Pueraria lobata . Mean size of aggregations (groups of two or more individuals which sit on a stem at distance less than 3 cm from their nearest neighbors) consisted of 4.4 individuals. The sex ratios within aggregations were similar to overall sex ratio of the population including solitary individuals (0.58). More than 50% of females found in aggregations were copulating. Percentage of females in copula in larger aggregations was higher than that in smaller aggregations, and this difference was considered to be caused by the higher chance of sexual enconters in larger aggregations. It was suggested that the aggregation of this species on the bush‐clover is not a ‘harem’ (a male monopolizes a group of females reported in some other stink bugs) but is mating aggregation to raise the chance of mating.