HOST INFLUENCE ON MATING-BEHAVIOR AND SPERMATOPHORE RECEPTION CORRELATED WITH REPRODUCTIVE OUTPUT AND LONGEVITY OF FEMALE EARIAS-INSULANA (BOISDUVAL) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)
Aj. Tamhankar, HOST INFLUENCE ON MATING-BEHAVIOR AND SPERMATOPHORE RECEPTION CORRELATED WITH REPRODUCTIVE OUTPUT AND LONGEVITY OF FEMALE EARIAS-INSULANA (BOISDUVAL) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE), Journal of insect behavior, 8(4), 1995, pp. 499-511
When mating and oviposition behavior of Earias insulana were studied i
n the absence or presence of host or by providing only host odor, in c
omparison to other treatments host absence caused a delayed and reduce
d reproductive activity with occasional impairment of egg viability. P
resence of host or its odor resulted in a short premating period and a
significant increase in mating frequency, number of spermatophores tr
ansferred, number of eggs oviposited, and proportion of eggs fertilize
d. Compared to host odor, host accessibility had a larger impact on in
sect behavior, indicating the importance of host contact. Under condit
ions of host accessibility, there existed a significant and positive c
orrelation between the number of spermatophores received by a female a
nd both the number of eggs she oviposited and her longevity. This indi
cated a role for ''male-derived nutrients'' in the reproduction of E.
insulana.