Sexy Mouth Odour? Male Oral Gland Pheromone in the Grain Beetle Parasitoid Lariophagus distinguendus (Forster) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae).

ABSTRACT: Throughout the animal kingdom, sexual pheromones are used for the attraction of mates and as courtship signals but also enable sexual isolation between species. In the parasitic wasp Lariophagus distinguendus, male courtship behaviour consisting of wing fanning, antennal stroking of the female antenna, and head nodding stimulates female receptivity leading to copulation. Recently L. distinguendus was reported to consist of two different lineages, which are sexually isolated because males fail to elicit receptivity in foreign females. It is unclear, however, which part of the courtship behaviour triggers female receptivity and therefore could be a mechanism causing sexual isolation. Here we show that in L. distinguendus a nonvolatile male oral pheromone is essential to release the female re

SUBMITTER: Konig K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4633539 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature