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COURTSHIP AND COPULATION IN LYTTA NUTTALLI (COLEOPTERA: MELOIDAE)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

G. H. Gerber  and
N. S. Church
G. H. Gerber
Affiliation:
Canada Department of Agriculture, Research Station, Winnipeg, Manitoba
N. S. Church
Affiliation:
Canada Department of Agriculture, Research Station, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
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Abstract

During courtship in Lytta nuttalli Say the male assumes the active role. Mounted above the female, he repeats a cycle of three stereotyped, stimulatory activities: antennal manipulation, abdominal vibration, and attempted genital insertion. The male uses both his antennae together to stroke alternately the tips of the female’s antennae, which he holds upright with his fore legs. With rapid lateral vibrations of his abdomen, he brushes the ends of the female’s elytra and her eighth tergum with the long bristles on his eighth sternum. He also repeatedly probes the end of the female’s abdomen with his aedeagus, attempting to establish genital contact. Abdominal vibration is performed alternately with genital insertion attempts; antennation usually is carried out at the same time as the other activities. Courtship lasts for a few minutes to 1 hour or more. Copulation is initiated by successful genital insertion and is executed with the male and female aligned end-to-end. Its average duration is 8 to 10 hours. Abdominal vibration seems to be unique to Lytta, whereas the dorsal orientation during courtship and the genital activity are similar to those observed in many other Meloinae. Though antennal manipulation is common in Meloinae, the method employed by L. nuttalli is different from that in other meloines. Anatomical modifications related to courtship are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 105 , Issue 5 , May 1973 , pp. 719 - 724
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1973

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