Brief Mating Behavior at Dawn and Dusk and Long Nocturnal Matings in the Butterfly Melanitis leda
Brief Mating Behavior at Dawn and Dusk and Long Nocturnal Matings in the Butterfly Melanitis leda
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蝴蝶黑斑蝶在黎明和黄昏时的短暂交配行为以及长时间的夜间交配行为
DOI：
10.1007/s10905-020-09753-x
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
1
通讯作者：
U. Kodandaramaiah
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
F. Molleman;Sridhar Halali;U. Kodandaramaiah
昆虫物种交配系统的信息对于深入了解性选择和种群结构是必要的。在野外，人们已经研究了普通夜棕蝶Melanitis leda的雄性领地，但其交配系统的其他方面仍然很大程度上未知。对于M. leda在印度南部，我们观察了男性和男性之间的相互作用，在圈养，测量交配持续时间和精荚质量，并确定在野生一妻多夫的程度。我们发现，交配行为发生在黎明和黄昏前后的短时间内。我们的观察证实，男性竞争空中战斗（旋转）和干扰交配对。早上，他们可能会用颤抖来热身。雌性可以与雄性旋转，并通过将它们的触角指向上方或飞走来拒绝交配。雄鸟栖息在雌鸟身后，扇动翅膀向雌鸟求爱，然后卷曲翅膀开始交配。180度侧边与生殖器接触。而在早上，交配平均持续1小时23分钟，从来没有超过3小时，在晚上，交配可以类似的时间，但42%的蝴蝶只有在黎明来临时才分开。然而，这样长的夜间交配并没有导致更重的精囊。雄性的第一个精荚往往比随后的精荚大。连同以前的研究，我们的研究结果表明，男性竞争主要通过领土防御（如前所述），求爱性能，和干扰，并在较小程度上提供精囊，而女性施加一些控制交配系统的时机，他们的接受性和配偶选择。
Information on the mating system of an insect species is necessary to gain insight into sexual selection and population structure. Male territoriality of the common evening brown butterfly Melanitis leda has been studied in the wild, but other aspects of its mating system remain largely unknown. For a population of M. leda in South India, we observed male-male and male-female interactions in captivity, measured mating duration and spermatophore mass, and also determined the degree of polyandry in the wild. We found that mating behavior takes place for short periods of time around dawn and dusk. Our observations corroborate that males compete in aerial combats (twirling) and interfere with mating pairs. In the morning, they may use shivering to warm up. Females can twirl with males and refuse mating by pointing their abdomens upwards or by flying away. Males court females by fluttering their wings while perched behind females, and then initiate copulation by curling their abdomens ca. 180 degrees sideways to make genital contact. While in the morning, matings lasted on average one hour and twenty-three minutes and never exceeded three hours, in the evening, matings could be of similar duration, but 42% of butterflies only separated when dawn was approaching. However, such long nocturnal matings did not result in heavier spermatophores. The first spermatophore of a male tended to be larger than subsequent spermatophores. Together with previous studies on this species, our findings suggest that males compete mainly through territorial defense (as reported before), courtship performance, and interference, and to a lesser extent by providing spermatophores, while females exert some control over the mating system by the timing of their receptivity and mate choice.