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The relationship of age and ovarian development to mating of Delia antiqua (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)
Author(s) -
McDONALD R. S.,
BORDEN J. H.
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.tb00812.x
Subject(s) - biology , anthomyiidae , mating , ovariole , oogenesis , population , zoology , ovary , botany , endocrinology , pest analysis , oocyte , demography , genetics , embryo , sociology
. The relationship between age and sexual receptivity for male and female onion flies, Delia antiqua (Meigen) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), and factors affecting ovarian development were examined under various conditions. Confinement in small arenas had a significant negative effect on the rate of oogenesis over the first 10 days of adult life and, in some cases, on the percentage of females inseminated. The rate of oogenesis was not affected by male population density, but high density of females in large arenas appeared to have a priming effect. Few males in single‐pair mating bioassays conducted over 24 h were sexually mature at 3–4 days post‐eclosion, but > 50% mated when aged 6–7 days. Although females first mated at 3–4 days post‐eclosion when confined for 24 h with sexually mature males, most females mated at 6–7 days of age when oocytes in the terminal ovariole position comprised 50% of total egg volume (stage 7 or greater on a 10‐stage scale). No females aged 3 days were mated in no‐choice and two‐choice bioassays with sexually mature males over 24 h. Previtellogenic females (stage 3) were not inseminated, and ovarian development was only correlated weakly ( r = 0.48) with mating. Frequency of mating in mixed‐sex groups of twenty flies was comparable with that in single pairs. However, more females were inseminated at 3–4 days, probably as a result of multiple matings by a few precocious males. These results do not support the hypothesis that females mate only when ovarioles are mature.