Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr;51(2):212-220.
doi: 10.1007/s13744-021-00935-6. Epub 2022 Jan 18.

The Effects of a Male Audience on Male and Female Mating Behaviour in the Blood-Sucking Bug Rhodnius prolixus

Gabriel A De Simone  1 , Lorena Pompilio  2 , Gabriel Manrique  3
Affiliations

The Effects of a Male Audience on Male and Female Mating Behaviour in the Blood-Sucking Bug Rhodnius prolixus

Gabriel A De Simone et al. Neotrop Entomol. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Social context is a key factor affecting sexual behaviour and cannot be neglected in gregarious species, such as triatomine blood-sucking bugs. Here we study the influence of the social context on the sexual reproductive behaviour of males and females of Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Specifically, we identify and compare the frequencies and sequence of sexual behaviours exhibited by a focal pair in presence or absence of a male audience. We expect that in presence of a male audience females increase their selectiveness level since the risk of losing infertile eggs decreases in presence of more candidates and females can benefit from copulating with a better quality male. Besides, in presence of potential rivals, we expect changes in the sexual behaviour of focal males, associated to a reduction in the risk of sperm competition. As expected, in presence of a male audience, females significantly increased the exhibition of rejection behaviour. Moreover, focal males exhibited shorter latencies to mount the female, longer duration of copula, and differences in their stereotyped behaviour exhibited during copula. We discuss the influence of the social context on the reproductive behaviour of females and males of R. prolixus.

Keywords: Audience effect; Courtship; Female choice; Insect reproductive behaviour; Mate guarding; Social context.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Alcock J (1994) Post insemination association between males and females in insects: the mate guarding hypothesis. Annu Rev Entomol 105:1–21
    1. Antunes C, Dias LP, de Almeida Guimarães G, Oliveira J, da Rosa JA, Almeida CE, Lopes CM, Gonçalves TCM, Costa J (2020) Sexual choice in males of the Triatoma brasiliensis complex: a matter of maintenance of the species or genetic variability? Open Parasitol J 8:1–9
    1. Barbosa F (2012) Males responding to sperm competition cues have higher fertilization success in a soldier fly. Behav Ecol 23(4):815–819. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ars035 - DOI
    1. Bastock M, Manning A (1955) The courtship of Drosophila melanogaster. Behaviour 8:85–111
    1. Berglund A (1995) Many mates make male pipefish choosy. Behaviour 131(3):213–218

LinkOut - more resources