Open AccessINDIRECT EVIDENCE FOR MULTIPLE INSEMINATION IN CHIRONOMUS OPPOSITUS WALKER (DIPTERA: CHIRONOMIDAE)
Author(s) -
Martin Jon,
Lee B. T. O.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian journal of entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1440-6055
pISSN - 1326-6756
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-6055.1989.tb01199.x
Subject(s) - polytene chromosome , biology , chironomidae , chironomus , zoology , population , mating , midge , natural population growth , chironomus riparius , ecology , insemination , sperm , larva , genetics , demography , drosophila melanogaster , sociology , gene
Electrophoretic analysis of an egg mass collected from a natural population of Chironomus oppositus f. whitei , provided indirect evidence that the female had been inseminated by at least 2 different males. This indicates that the previous assumption based on the banding patterns of the polytene chromosomes, that an egg mass is the result of a single mating (Martin et al. 1980), must be treated with caution. Electrophoretic analysis has therefore been able to answer a question on reproductive biology which it is difficult to answer directly or using polytene cytology. The size of the egg mass suggested that it may have been a seond egg mass laid by that female, further suggesting the possibility that a female may re‐mate after she has laid an egg mass.