New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Mating behaviour, and evidence for a female-released sex pheromone, in Wiseana copularis (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae)

RACHEL A. ALLAN
DR. Q. WANG⁺

Plant Protection
Institute of Natural Resources
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand
⁺Author for correspondence.

Abstract  The mating behaviour of Wiseana copularis was studied in the laboratory. In conditions simulating dusk, female moths began to fan their wings while remaining stationary. A Y-tube olfactory study revealed that wing-fanning females released a volatile sex pheromone that attracted males from a distance. Males spent significantly more time in the end of the Y-tube arm leading to a wing-fanning female than in the control arm. Males flew upwind in a zigzag flight and females stopped wing fanning immediately upon contact with arriving males. Mating lasted approximately 2 min, and mated females started ovipositing within minutes after mating. Males, but not females, later re-mated. Females laid between 450 and 1750 eggs over a 24-h period. Mating systems of W. copularis and other hepialid moths are discussed.

Keywords  Wiseana copularis; mating behaviour; sex pheromone

Z01006

Received 31 January 2001; accepted 3 May 2001

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 257-262

0301-4223/01/2803-0257 $7.00/0   (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2001

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (444K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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