Female receptivity in anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae) is not modulated by male accessory gland products}

ABRAHAM SOLANA; NUÑEZ-BEVERIDO, NICOLAS; CONTRERAS NAVARRO, YAIR; PÉREZ-STAPLE, DIANA

JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 70 p. 41 - 48

0022-1910

In numerous insects, accessory gland products (AGPs) transferred frommales to females during mating are responsible for female sexual inhibition, butthese products can be affected by male condition. Here, we investigated theeffect of AGPs on female receptivity of the Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Loew), and the effectof male and female strain, male irradiation, AGP dose and sexual activityperiod on the effectiveness of these AGPs in inhibiting female remating.Injections of aqueous extracts of male accessory glands into the abdomen offemales did not reduce their receptivity either at 0.2 or 0.8 male equivalent. Femalesinjected with AGPs behaved like virgin females and not as mated females. Neithermale origin, female origin (wild versusmass-reared), nor male irradiation (sterile versusfertile males) had an effect in inhibiting female remating. Also, injections ofglands obtained during the sexual calling period of males, or obtained duringthe morning when males are not sexually active had no effect on female rematingbehavior. Mated mass-reared females were more likely to remate than wildfemales. We conclude that inhibition of female sexual receptivity of A. ludens is mediated by factors other thanAGPs, such as the amount of sperm stored by females, the stimulus of copulationper se or more probably, mediated bya combination of factors. More research is needed to elucidate the role of AGPsin this species.