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Structural evidence why males of Panorpa liui offer prey rather than salivary mass as their nuptial gift
Author(s) -
Ma Na,
Hua Baozhen
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
acta zoologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1463-6395
pISSN - 0001-7272
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6395.2010.00474.x
Subject(s) - biology , zoology , mating , predation , ecology
Ma, N. and Hua, B. 2010. Structural evidence why males of Panorpa liui offer prey rather than salivary mass as their nuptial gift. — Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92 : 398–403. The scorpionflies are considered as ideal model animals for the study of mating systems in insects. The males generally offer both prey and salivary mass as nuptial gifts to the females during copulation. Our field observations show that Panorpa liui is peculiar because the males offer only prey rather than salivary secretions as nuptial gift. Through anatomical and histological examinations, the salivary glands of P. liui were found to be devoid of sexual dimorphism in Panorpa for the first time . Both the male and female P. liui bear simple salivary glands, which are only composed of a common duct and two short sac‐like glands. This is the first attempt to explore the relationship between the salivary glands and the mating tactics from the structural aspect in Panorpa , speculating that the simple structure of the male salivary glands in P. liui might be responsible for its failing to produce salivary mass as a nuptial gift during copulation. Compared with Boreidae, Meropidae, Bittacidae and Panorpidae, we presume that the absence of sexual dimorphism of the salivary glands might represent a plesiomorphy in P. liui . The origin and evolutionary process of the nuptial gift behaviour are tentatively speculated in Panorpa .