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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Pest Management and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #245153
Title: Reproductive refractoriness in the western tarnished plant bug, Lygus hesperus Knight.

Author
item Brent, Colin

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/25/2009
Publication Date: 3/15/2010
Citation: Brent, C.S. 2010. Reproductive refractoriness in the western tarnished plant bug, Lygus hesperus Knight.. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 102:2 300-306.

Interpretive Summary: Adult Lygus hesperus, a major crop pest of the southwestern United States, can mate repeatedly during their lives. To better understand the constraints on their frequency of mating, this study examined the duration and physiological factors associated with the period of lost sexual receptivity in both sexes observed after they have mated. Males were found to remain uninterested in females for approximately 24 hrs, which appears to be the minimum time needed to produce sufficient seminal fluid to inseminate another female. Females would not remate for approximately 5 days, and some waited more than two weeks. The duration of a female’s loss of interest in mating may be dictated by the amount of seminal fluid that she first receives and the rate at which it is utilized. There is also evidence that chemical factors within the seminal fluid can induce the loss of receptivity for at least the first 24 hrs.

Technical Abstract: Adult Lygus hesperus, a major crop pest of the southwestern United States, can mate repeatedly during their lives. To better understand the constraints on their frequency of mating, this study examined the duration and physiological factors associated with the post-mating refractory period of both sexes. Males were found to have a median delay of 24 hrs, which appears to be the minimum time needed to refill the accessory glands and produce another viably sized spermatophore. The median refractory period in mated females was 5 d, but sometimes lasted longer than 14 d. The duration of female refractoriness may be dictated by the original starting size of a spermatophore and the rate at which it degrades. Female responses to abdominally injected spermatophore homogenates indicate that males induce the loss of receptivity for at least the first 24 hrs.