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Protogyny, protandry, and bimodal emergence patterns in necrophagous Diptera1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Matthias Buck
Matthias Buck*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
*
2 E-mail: mbuck@evb.uoguelph.ca).
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Abstract

The emergence patterns of Diptera breeding in small-sized and buried carrion were studied in rearing experiments with field-exposed baits. Development times are reported for 52 species in the families Phoridae, Sphaeroceridae, Sepsidae, Heleomyzidae, Anthomyiidae, Fanniidae, Muscidae, Sarcophagidae, Psychodidae, and Sciaridae. Most species showed a synchronous emergence of males and females. Protandry was detected in Hydrotaea ignava (Harris) (Muscidae), H. palaestrica (Meigen), and Psychoda minuta (Banks) (Psychodidae). Protogyny was found in several species of Phoridae, namely Conicera similis (Haliday), C. schnittmanni Schmitz, Anevrina unispinosa (Zetterstedt), and Triphleba dudai (Schmitz). Conicera schnittmanni and T. dudai showed two discrete emergence periods for each sex, which is due to a delayed emergence of some specimens. Protogyny is a rare phenomenon in Diptera and insects in general, and has never been reported before in Phoridae. The significance of protogyny could not be ascertained in the examined species, because of insufficient information on their mating systems and female receptivity patterns.

Résumé

L’émergence de diptères qui se reproduisent dans des carcasses de petite taille et des charognes enfouies dans le sol a été déterminée à l’aide d’élevages sur des appâts exposés en nature. La durée du développement a été évaluée chez 52 espèces appartenant aux familles Phoridae, Sphaeroceridae, Sepsidae, Heleomyzidae, Anthomyiidae, Fanniidae, Muscidae, Sarcophagidae, Psychodidae et Sciaridae. L’émergence des mâles et des femelles est synchrone chez la plupart des espèces. Il y a protandrie chez Hydrotaea ignava (Harris) (Muscidae), chez H. palaestrica (Meigen) et Psychoda minuta (Banks) (Psychodidae). Il y a protogynie chez plusieurs espèces de Phoridae, notamment Conicera similis (Haliday), C. schnittmanni Schmitz, Anevrina unispinosa (Zetterstedt) et Triphleba dudai (Schmitz). Chez C. schnittmanni et T. dudai, il existe deux périodes d’émergence bien définies chez les mâles et les femelles parce que certains individus tardent à émerger. La protogynie est un phénomène rare chez les diptères et chez les insectes en général et n’a jamais été observée auparavant chez des Phoridae. La fonction de la protogynie n’a pu être déterminée chez les espèces étudiées parce que le système d’accouplement de ces insectes et la réceptivité des femelles sont mal connus.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 133 , Issue 4 , August 2001 , pp. 521 - 531
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2001

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Footnotes

1

This study was conducted at the Department of Ecology and Morphology of Animals, University of Ulm, Germany.

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