TY - JOUR
T1 - Cuticular hydrocarbons and their role in copulatory behavior in Phormia regina (Meigen)
AU - Stoffolano, John G.
AU - Schauber, Eric
AU - Yin, Chih Ming
AU - Tillman, Julie A.
AU - Blomquist, Gary J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DCB-9107457) to C.-M. Yin and J.G.S., partial support from USDA Hatch Project No. 725 (J.G.S.) and USDA Hatch Project No. 743 (C.-M.Y.) and NSF Grant IBN-9220092 to G.J.B. Paper No. 3089 from the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. Appreciation to T. Hosmer (University of Massachusetts Computing Center) for assistance with the statistics, Sovann Som for conducting tests on the house flies and to Dr L.G. Pickens for supplying house fly pupae. Thanks to A. Slocombe for entering data onto the computer. We thank Dr Murray Hackett, University of Nevada at Reno, for the GC–MS analyses and Dr K.E. Espelie, University of Georgia at Athens for constructive criticism and suggestions on the manuscript.
PY - 1997/10
Y1 - 1997/10
N2 - The cuticular hydrocarbons from adult Phormia regina (Meigen) were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both sexes had similar components in nearly identical quantities, consisting of complex mixtures of saturated n-, monomethyl- and dimethylalkanes from 23 to 33 total carbons. Although no diet-, age-, or sex-specific differences were observed, cuticular hydrocarbons were shown to be involved in copulatory behavior. Hydrocarbon profiles of wild, compared to laboratory reared flies, showed no major differences. Behaviorally, males responded 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 copulatory attempts and the amount of time males spent mounted on either decoy. House fly, Musca domestica L., males when paired with a female M. domestica decoy produced copulatory attempts: whereas, when P. regina males were placed with M. domestica female decoys, there were no copulatory attempts. It is concluded that the cuticular hydrocarbons of P. regina function as species-specific but not sex-specific mating cues and elicit species-specific copulatory behavior in males.
AB - The cuticular hydrocarbons from adult Phormia regina (Meigen) were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both sexes had similar components in nearly identical quantities, consisting of complex mixtures of saturated n-, monomethyl- and dimethylalkanes from 23 to 33 total carbons. Although no diet-, age-, or sex-specific differences were observed, cuticular hydrocarbons were shown to be involved in copulatory behavior. Hydrocarbon profiles of wild, compared to laboratory reared flies, showed no major differences. Behaviorally, males responded 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 copulatory attempts and the amount of time males spent mounted on either decoy. House fly, Musca domestica L., males when paired with a female M. domestica decoy produced copulatory attempts: whereas, when P. regina males were placed with M. domestica female decoys, there were no copulatory attempts. It is concluded that the cuticular hydrocarbons of P. regina function as species-specific but not sex-specific mating cues and elicit species-specific copulatory behavior in males.
KW - Blow fly
KW - Contact pheromone
KW - Copulatory behavior
KW - Cuticular hydrocarbons
KW - Dipteran
KW - Species-specificity
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U2 - 10.1016/S0022-1910(97)00050-4
DO - 10.1016/S0022-1910(97)00050-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0031255767
SN - 0022-1910
VL - 43
SP - 1065
EP - 1076
JO - Journal of insect physiology
JF - Journal of insect physiology
IS - 11
ER -