The Influences of Food and Photoperiod on Flight Activity and Reproduction of the Bean Bug, Riptortus clavatus THUNBERG (Heteroptera : Coreidae)

Abstract

From the results of tethered flight tests using adults of R. clavatus collected form field, two kinds of flight were discriminated, a short flight of within 10 min and a long flight exceeding 10 min. Under a long day condition, females which fed on 10 adzuki bean seeds flew less actively than those fed on 1 seed. Male flight activity was higher than that of females when they were given 10 seeds. Even under a short day condition, flight activity of both females and males was lower with 10 seeds supplied than with 1. When females were reared on different numbers of adzuki beans (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 seeds), the cumulative number of eggs laid increased linearly with an increase in food quantity. At the same time flight activity was constantly high when the food quantity was below 2 seeds, and then the activity decreased with more than 5 seeds. Five days after emergence, the food was removed and the flight activity of females became higher than those of fed, control females.