Active female courtship behavior and male nutritional contribution to female fecundity in Bruchidius dorsalis (Fahraeus) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) |
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Authors: | Koh-ichi Takakura |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan Tel. +81-75-753-6136; Fax +81-75-753-6474 e-mail: takakura@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp, JP |
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Abstract: | Mating behavior and the male's contribution to female fecundity were studied in the bean weevil Bruchidius dorsalis (Fahraeus) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) in comparison with two other species, Callosobruchus chinensis (which infests stored beans) and Kytorhinus sharpianus (which feeds on wild legumes). Only females of B. dorsalis showed multiple mating and characteristic precopulatory behavior that appeared to solicit the male's nutritious secretion.
In contrast, all females of the other two species did not copulate multiply and did not show such precopulatory behavior.
In B. dorsalis, the decrement of male body weight just after copulation indicated that seminal fluid weighing as much as approximately 7%
of the male's body weight was transferred to the female. Fecundity was more than eight times higher in females that had copulated
ten times than in females that had copulated only once, indicating that males paid most of the nutritional cost of egg production.
These facts suggest that the sex role is reversed in B. dorsalis.
Received: May 22, 1998 / Accepted: July 19, 1999 |
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Keywords: | Bruchid Male investment Mating behavior Sex role reversal Sexual selection |
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