Socially cued anticipatory adjustment of female signalling effort in a moth.

ABSTRACT: Juvenile population density has profound effects on subsequent adult development, morphology and reproductive investment. Yet, little is known about how the juvenile social environment affects adult investment into chemical sexual signalling. Male gumleaf skeletonizer moths, Uraba lugens, facultatively increase investment into antennae (pheromone receiving structures) when reared at low juvenile population densities, but whether there is comparable adjustment by females into pheromone investment is not known. We investigate how juvenile population density influences the 'calling' (pheromone-releasing) behaviour of females and the attractiveness of their pheromones. Female U. lugens adjust their calling behaviour in response to socio-sexual cues: adult females reared in high j

SUBMITTER: Pham HT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7775976 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature