Morphological differences of the reproductive system could be used to predict the optimum Grapholita molesta (Busck) control period

Zhiwei Zhang,Jun Li,Yunfei Peng,Xianqian Liu,Lina Men,Angie Deng,Yuan Chen,Ruiyan Ma

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08549-y

Zhiwei Zhang, Jun Li + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08549-y

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Abstract

The oriental fruit moth (OFM), Grapholita molesta (Busck), is one of the dominant fruit-boring pests worldwide. In order to conduct integrated control of OFM effectively, it is important to predict the optimum control period. OFM populations have been monitored either by the number of trapped male moths exposed to sex pheromones or by the number of trapped male and female moths using food traps in orchards. The mating status and development stage of the trapped moths have not been characterized. The present paper studies the anatomical morphology of the OFM reproductive system at different development periods. The results revealed that OFM ovarian development can be divided into six stages. The average daily fecundity of OFM had an excellent positive correlation (r = 0.86) with the percentages of OFM in the egg maturation & oviposition stage, which could be used as an indicator in field population prediction work. There were obvious differences in the morphology of the corpus bursa and the heavy muscular area of the ductus ejaculatorius simplex before and after mating, and these differences could be used to increase the accuracy in predicting the optimum OFM control period.

Highlights

The oriental fruit moth (OFM), Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae), is one of the dominant fruit-boring pests worldwide[1], and is the most destructive pest in Northern China orchards through its dramatic reduction of fruit quality[2]
Our anatomical morphology analysis showed that the internal reproductive system of male OFM adults includes one testis, a pair of sperm-modified vesicles, a pair of vas deferens, a pair of ductus ejaculatorius duplexes, and one ductus ejaculatorius simplex
The anatomical morphology of OFM reproductive systems was studied, and the morphological structure of every organ was further confirmed based on previous research[24,25,26,27]

Summary

Introduction

The oriental fruit moth (OFM), Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae), is one of the dominant fruit-boring pests worldwide[1], and is the most destructive pest in Northern China orchards through its dramatic reduction of fruit quality[2]. Development is widely used to make predictions about important Lepidopteran pests, such as Heliothis zes[14], Pseudaletia (Mythimna) separate[18], Ostrinia nubilalis[17, 19], Cnaphalocrocis medinalis[20, 21], and Spodoptera exigua[22]. These works indicate that analyzing reproductive developmental morphology is an efficient way of predicting the occurrence status of moths. The morphological differences in the reproductive systems of OFM before and after mating were observed as well – they could provide morphological evidence that could increase prediction accuracy and provide important data for mating behavior research

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