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Do protein‐limited female Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) obtain a nutritional benefit from mating?
Author(s) -
COOK DAVID F.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1995.tb00003.x
Subject(s) - biology , lucilia cuprina , calliphoridae , mating , yolk , zoology , sperm , ecology , botany , larva
Abstract. Cohorts of adult female Lucilia cuprina Wiedemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) were fed a single 5 μl droplet of liver exudate after which half the females were allowed to mate and the other half left as virgins. Females were housed individually with water and sucrose for between 4 and 7 days after mating. Females were dissected to record the level of ovarian development and the size of their primary oocytes. Mating did not give protein‐limited females any significant nutritional benefit in terms of either increased oocyte development, yolk deposition or oocyte size. Hence, it is concluded that male L.cuprina do not provide females at mating with any obvious material benefits beyond their sperm.