Mating behaviour in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

To achieve mating success, males and females perform different precopulatory behaviours. In sexual behaviour, males invest time and energy to carry out a series of behaviours patterns to attract or access the female. In some mite species, males perform a series of behaviours before mating with the f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Gomes, Walysson Mendes
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV)
Repositorio:LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:locus.ufv.br:123456789/32367
Acceso en línea:https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/32367
https://doi.org/10.47328/ufvbbt.2021.160
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ácaros rajados - Comportamento sexual
Acasalamento de animais
Ácaros rajados - Reprodução
Entomologia Agricola
Descripción
Sumario:To achieve mating success, males and females perform different precopulatory behaviours. In sexual behaviour, males invest time and energy to carry out a series of behaviours patterns to attract or access the female. In some mite species, males perform a series of behaviours before mating with the female. Males of T. urticae remain on top of females in the quiescent stage until they reach adulthood. This behaviour can last for several hours and, knowing how to recognize the different quiescent phases can influence the male's sexual performance. Thus, this work sought to observe the male preference of T. urticae to two quiescent stages and between living and dead female deutonymphs. In addition, we describe and classify the sexual behaviour of males of T. urticae and create an ethogram that represents this behaviour in this species. Virgin males and females were reared separately on leaf discs until adulthood. Male preference experiments were carried out with virgin males in arenas composed of leaf discs containing each one of the treatments. The male courtship behaviours were recorded for twenty minutes. The ethogram was assembled manually, showing all the behaviour patterns performed by the males. Males of T. urticae can recognize quiescent deutonymphs and differentiate between living and dead deutonymphs. In total, seventeen out of twenty males copulated with females. Males performed a total of six behaviours. The order of occurrence of the behaviours varied between the samples. The male choice between quiescent protonymph and deutonymph and quiescent live and dead individuals are made through chemical cues. The behaviours performed by males of T. urticae are like those found in other species of mites and ticks. In T. urticae, male density and development without the presence suggested that these individuals exhibit stereotyped behaviour. Keywords: Sexual selection. Copulatory behaviour. Precopulatory behaviour. Male choice