CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS AND THEIR ROLE IN COPULATORY-BEHAVIOR IN PHORMIA-REGINA (MEIGEN)

The cuticular hydrocarbons from adult Phormia regina (Meigen) were cha racterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Both sexes had sim ilar components in nearly identical quantities, consisting of complex mixtures of saturated n-, monomethyl- and dimethylalkanes from 23 to 3 3 total carbons, Although no diet-, age-, or sex-specific differences were observed, cuticular hydrocarbons were shown to be involved in cop ulatory behavior, Hydrocarbon profiles of wild, compared to laboratory reared flies, showed no major differences, Behaviorally, males respon ded the same to dead decoys of either sex, Removal of the hydrocarbons , using hexane, from either male or female decoys, did not affect the number of mating strikes, but markedly reduced the number of copulator y attempts and the amount of time males spent mounted on either decoy, House fly, Musca domestica L., males when paired with a female M. dom estica decoy produced copulatory attempts: whereas, when P. regina mal es were placed with M. domestica female decoys, there were no copulato ry attempts, It is concluded that the cuticular hydrocarbons of P. reg ina function as species-specific but not sex-specific mating cues and elicit species-specific copulatory behavior in males. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.