Male Competition in Pteroptyx Fireflies: Wing-Cover Clamps, Female Anatomy, and Mating Plugs
1983; Florida Entomological Society; Volume: 66; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3494553
ISSN1938-5102
AutoresSteve Wing, James E. Lloyd, Tawatchai Hongtrakul,
Tópico(s)Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
ResumoA variety of male insect structures are used to hold females during mating including mandibles (Sivinski 1981), tergal gin traps (pinching organs) (Morris 1979), genital claspers (Wing 1982), antennae and modified legs (Parker 1970). Such structures may prevent other males from taking over a receptive female (Parker 1970), and they may enable the male to manipulate the female to his advantage-e.g. for forceful insemination (Thornhill 1982; see also, Lloyd 1979). The hooked elytral tips of Pteroptyx fireflies, long a puzzle to biologists who observed them and also the primary criterion for separating the genus Pteroptyx from Luciola, are used to clamp the female during mating in Pteroptyx valida, and probably other species. Here we present the details of this clamping as it occurs in P. Valida.
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