MULTIPLE MATING IN LABORATORY-REARED GYPSY MOTHS (LEPIDOPTERA, LYMANTRIIDAE)

Multiple mating was studied in a laboratory colony of gypsy moths, Lym antria dispar (L.). Males transferred reduced quantities of eupyrene s perm with each mating, and few were able to fully inseminate one femal e daily for 4 d. Nonetheless, some males could remate and fully insemi nate a second female within a few hours, suggesting that not all of th e sperm stored in the duplex was transferred during the first mating. Females that had mated with males incapable of full insemination would remate up to 2 d later, and sperm from the second mating was used in fertilization. Fecundity, as measured by egg mass weight, was dependen t upon sperm transfer. Females with no sperm or only apyrene sperm lai d fewer eggs than females with eupyrene sperm. However, the quantity o f eupyrene sperm had little effect on the weight of the egg mass.