New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Sex ratio of Nysius huttoni White (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in field and laboratory populations

Yong Jiang Wei

School of Biological Science
University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Present address: Investigation and Diagnostic Centre, Biosecurity New Zealand, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Gerald Street, PO Box 24, Lincoln, New Zealand.
adam.wei@maf.govt.nz or weiyj56@hotmail.com

Abstract    The sex ratio of Nysius huttoni was investigated in field and laboratory populations. Sex ratios of the eight samples of field-collected but laboratory-emerged (i.e., final moult to adult) populations ranged from 1:0.86 to 1:1.22, and the overall sex ratio of 587 adults (287♀:300♂) was 1:1.05. No significant differences from a 1:1, ♀:♂ ratio were found (P > 0.05, χ² test). Sex ratios in populations reared in the laboratory at different temperatures did not differ significantly from 1:1 (P > 0.05, χ² test). However, varying sex ratios of populations produced under different photoperiods show that photoperiod seems to affect the sex ratio of N. huttoni. The results indicate that a short-day photoperiod combined with low temperature produced the greatest proportion of males (significantly different at the 5% level). The sex ratio in the field populations (i.e., field-collected adults) was close to 1:1 at most times, but there was an excess of males in some of the samples.

Keywords    Lygaeidae; Nysius huttoni; photoperiod; temperature; sex ratio; sampling

Z07038; Online publication date 22 February 2008; Received 19 July 2007; accepted 19 october 2007

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2008, Vol. 35: 19–28
0301–4223/08/3501–0019 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008

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