Mating Behavior of Three Cockroaches (Latiblattella) from Honduras
1970; Wiley; Volume: 2; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2989769
ISSN1744-7429
Autores Tópico(s)Insects and Parasite Interactions
ResumoMales of Latiblattella angustifrons, L. azteca. and, possibly, L. v1itrea are attracted into the vicinity of their respective females by volatile female pheromones. After initial antennal contact males and females of L. azteca and L. vitrea push sideways against one another and, facing in opposite directions, follow each other in tight circles for a few turns. Males of all three species after female contact may rock rapidly from side to side by alternately flexing muscles in opposed legs. Contact with an attractive female induces receptive males of all three species to raise their wings high, thus exposing the tergal gland that exudes male pheromone. Males complete their courtship display by turning until the posterior end of the abdomen is directed toward the female's head. Attraction now shifts to the male. A responsive female, attracted by the male pheromone, moves forward until she can palpate the male's tergal gland. The female continues to move forward straddling the male's abdomen with her legs and rubbing his terga with her mouthparts. When the female's head reaches the base of the male's raised wings, the male is in a position beneath the female from which he can clasp her genitalia. If genital connection is secured, the insects swing apart until they face opposite directions. Mating pairs copulate for an hour or more during which time the male forms and transfers a spermatophore. Females of all three species engage in an uncommon parasexual behavior. The female tilts her thorax forward and lowers the posterior end of her abdomen exposing her abdominal terga. No tergal gland is visible. Males are attracted to such calling females and frequently palpate the female's exposed abdomen. Calling may be a behavior by which sexually active females disperse their pheromone. All insects died before this phenomenon could be analyzed completely. Male and female interactions and male tergal glands arc illustrated. CONTEMPORARY MEMBERS OF biparental animal species live in populations of interbreeding males and females. Because the life spans of all individuals are finite, each species is a continuously changing, dynamic entity in space and time; old members die and leave the population; new members enter through birth. Withotut continuous renewal through reprodtuction, all species wotuld die out after one generation. Many aquiatic species achieve transient immortality throtugh external fertilization of their eggs in water withotut the physical union of the two sexes. On the other hand, strictly terrestrial animals mtust unite in copulation in order to fertilize their eggs internally, thereby avoiding injtury to the gametes from drying. Among animals in which the male inseminates the female, the sexes mtust first find each other before they can coptulate. All existing terrestrial species have solved the problem of finding mates, so they are not faced with extinction on that score. Nevertheless, the perennial reprodtuction of very small animals excites otur wonder. Insects, for example, are not only dwarfed bv their environment, btut they also live sturrotunded by myriads of other small animals. Yet within the ptullutlating biotic commuinity insects secture mates with remarkable regtularity generation after generation. Obviotusly, insects mtust be able to find and recognize other members of their own species among all the other species in the communnity. Since members of all biparental species of insects can find suitable mates, we concltude that recognition signals mtust have evolved within each intrabreeding population that allow the sexes to identify each other against a backgrotund of competing stimuli. Sextual recognition signals release a series of appropriate motor patterns in both sexes that (1) bring the individuals together, (2) effect courtship displays, and (3) ctlminate in coptulation. Operationally, sextual recognition signals wotuld be most effective if they were species-specific, thereby redtucing the likelihood of sterile interspecific matings. Yet there are ntumerotus examples of nonspecific, chemical sex attractants among insects (Jacobson 1965, Vick et al. 1970), the males of one species being attracted by the females of another species. A species that is sextually attracted from a distance by the scent of another species may rely on other, more specific chemical or behavioral signals to stupply the uiltimate specific discrimination that widely prevails in nature. However, the existence of hybrids between related species indicates that these barriers may fail from time to time. Althotuglh the field of imiating behavior has attracted a niumber of investigators, the sextual behavior of most insects is still largely uinknown. Relatively few of even the large orthopteroid insects, sulch as the cockroaches, have been studied intensively. Conservatively, there are over 3500 species of cockroaches (Blattaria) (Rehn 1951 ). Most named species have no economic significance for man and 120 BIOTROPICA 2(2): 120-128 1970 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.189 on Thu, 04 Aug 2016 05:59:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms for this reason are largely unknown outside the taxonomic literature. Mating behavior has been studied in less than 1 percent of the known species. In addition to their own original observations the following authors summarize most of the reported information on cockroach sexual behavior: Barth 1961, 1962, 1964; Roth 1968, 1969; Roth and Barth 1964, 1967; Roth and Dateo 1966; Roth and Willis 1952, 1954, 1958, 1961; Stay and Roth 1956. So far as I know, nothing has been reported on mating in species of Latiblattelia (Blattellidae: Plectopterinae), a genus of cockroaches that ranges from tropical America to the southern borders of the United States (Hebard 1917). While studying the bionomics of three species of Latiblattella [L. angustifrons Hebard, L. azteca (Saussure and Zehntner), L. vitrea (Brunner v. Wattenwyl) I from northwestern Honduras (Willis 1969), I was also able to observe certain aspects of their mating behavior. These observations, limited by the availability of insects and time, are reported below. Unfortunately, colonies of all three species died out before all aspects of mating could be satisfactorily interpreted.
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