Effects of Larval Diet on the Male Reproductive Traits in the West Indian Sweet Potato Weevils Euscepes postfasciatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

ABSTRACT: Larval diet significantly affects adult traits, although less is known about how they affect reproductive traits. Males of West Indian sweet potato weevil Euscepes postfasciatus deliver a remating inhibitor along with sperm to their mates during mating, leading to a refractory period (the period before females mate again). Crossing experiments were conducted using lines reared on artificial diets, including sweet potato powder (AD) or sweet potato tubers (SP) during the larval stage, and the refractory period was examined. We also examined whether the larval diet qualitatively or quantitatively altered male ejaculate. The results showed that the refractory period was significantly longer in the SP treatment than in the AD treatment for males and females. There was no significant dif

SUBMITTER: Himuro C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9031274 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature