Abstract
Age at mating is one of the most important factors that affect mating success and reproductive fitness in insects. The present study investigated how the age of the two sexes at mating determined mating success, reproductive fitness and longevity in Phauda flammans (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Phaudidae), a serious pest of Ficus spp. trees in South and Southeast Asia. The study may provide basic knowledge for the development of mating disruption programs using sex pheromones to control this pest. The species is monandrous and its adults live for only 4–5 d. We show that delayed mating significantly lowered mating success in both sexes, with males being more severely affected than females. Mating delay also reduced reproductive outputs of both sexes but females were more negatively affected than males. We did not find any effect of delayed mating on longevity of either sex. Our findings suggest that mating disruption with sex pheromones can be an effective method to delay mating in P. flammans, reducing reproductive success and thus limit population growth.
Highlights
Age at mating is one of the most important factors that affect mating success and reproductive fitness in insects.The present study investigated how the age of the two sexes at mating determined mating success, reproductive fitness and longevity in Phauda flammans (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Phaudidae), a serious pest of Ficus spp. trees in South and Southeast Asia
The present study demonstrates that the age at mating negatively affected reproductive performance in the monandrous moth P. flammans but the extent of the impact differed between the sexes
This suggests that senescence has more negative influence on male mating success and females are choosier in terms of mates’ age in this species, probably because eggs are more expensive than sperm (Darwin 1871)
Summary
Age at mating is one of the most important factors that affect mating success and reproductive fitness in insects.The present study investigated how the age of the two sexes at mating determined mating success, reproductive fitness and longevity in Phauda flammans (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Phaudidae), a serious pest of Ficus spp. trees in South and Southeast Asia. Mating delay reduced reproductive outputs of both sexes but females were more negatively affected than males. Our findings suggest that mating disruption with sex pheromones can be an effective method to delay mating in P. flammans, reducing reproductive success and limit population growth. In some species, females may prefer older males for mating to gain higher genetic quality for their offspring (Simmons 1995, De Luca 2015). Nothing is known about how the age of the two sexes at mating affects mating success, reproductive fitness and longevity in this species, knowledge of which will be of significance for the understanding of its mating system and development of its pest management programs such as mating disruption.
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