Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T11:26:03.849Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sexual Behavior in Blister Beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae): I. The Genus Pyrota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Richard B. Selander
Richard B. Selander
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The sexual behavior of 11 species of Pyrota is described. Analysis of the functional significance of anatomical secondary sexual characters in these species and a survey of similar modifications in others indicates that the general pattern observed is characteristic of the genus. Adults exhibit little aggressive behavior, and courtship involves prolonged physical contact between the sexes. Male courtship activities follow a regular cyclic pattern, as he alternately mounts above the female to perform one series of acts (palpation, dorsal antennation, and rocking) and orients behind her to perform another (leg grasp, palpal insertion beneath her elytra, lifting of her body, posterior antennation, abdominal curvature and stroke, and genital hold). Copulation entails abdominal pumping by the male.

As a prelude to comparative studies, a new classification of the Meloidae is proposed. Characters of sexual and related behavior at the subfamilial level and anatomical characters associated with them are discussed in an evolutionary context. Nemognathinae and, by inference, Eleticinae have simple courtship behavior, copulate dorso-ventrally for short periods of time, and do not prepare sites for oviposition. Meloinae have more elaborate courtship, copulate in a linear position for extended periods, and oviposit in specially prepared cavities in the ground.

Compared with that in other Meloidae, courtship behavior in Pyrota is both complex and highly distinctive. Interspecific differences, considered in detail for six species, involve variation in the precise manner of performance of acts and their temporal relationships. Systematically the ethological data are in reasonable accord with those from other sources except that the courtship behavior of P. concinna is more divergent from that of its presumed relatives than would be expected on the basis of anatomical and ecological characters. An explanation of this discrepancy is proposed in terms of the evolutionary reinforcement of ethological differences functioning in interspecific reproductive isolation.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 96 , Issue 8 , August 1964 , pp. 1037 - 1082
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beauregard, H. 1890. Les insectes vésicants. Baillière et Cie, Paris.Google Scholar
Borchmann, F. 1917. Meloidae, Cephaloidae. Coleopterorum Catalogus, Berlin 17(69): 1–208.Google Scholar
Cros, A. 1940. Essai de classification des Meloidae algériens. VI Congr. int. Ent., Madrid (1935) 1: 311–338.Google Scholar
Denier, P. C. L. 1934. Contribución al estudio de los meloides americanos. II. Ensayo de clasificación de los Pyrota (Dej.) Lec. basada en los caracteres sexuales secundarios de los ♂ ♂. Rev. Soc. ent. argent. 6: 49–75.Google Scholar
Eisner, T., and Kafatos, F. C.. 1962. Defense mechanisms of arthropods. X. A pheromone promoting aggregation in an aposematic distasteful insect. Psyche, Camb., Mass. 69: 53–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fender, K. M. 1951. The Malthini of North America (Coleoptera—Cantharidae). Amer. Midl. Nat. 46: 513–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeannel, R., and Paulian, R.. 1944. Morphologie abdominale des Coléoptères et systématique de l'ordre. Rev. franç. Ent. 11: 65–110.Google Scholar
Kaszab, Z. 1959. Phylogenetische Beziehungen des Flügelgeäders der Meloiden (Coleoptera), nebst Beschreibung neuer Gattungen und Arten. Acta zool. Acad. Sci. Hungaricae 5: 67–114.Google Scholar
MacSwain, J. W. 1956. A classification of the first instar larvae of the Meloidae (Coleoptera). Univ. Calif. Publ. Ent. 12: 1–182.Google Scholar
Martínez, A. 1958. Notas sobre Meloidae (Col.). V. Neotropica 4: 77–80.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. 1963. Animal species and evolution. Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selander, R. B. 1957. Descriptions and records of North American Meloidae. I. Proc. ent. Soc. Wash. 59: 135–141.Google Scholar
Selander, R. B. 1960. Bionomics, systematics, and phylogeny of Lytta, a genus of blister beetles (Coleoptera, Meloidae). Illinois biol. Monogr. 28: 1–295.Google Scholar
Selander, R. B. 1963. New species and new synonymy in Pyrota Dejean (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Coleopterists' Bull. 17: 33–41.Google Scholar
Spieth, H. T. 1950. The David Rockefeller Mexican Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History. Introductory account. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1454: 1–67.Google Scholar
Tanner, V. M. 1927. A preliminary study of the genitalia of female Coleoptera. Trans Amer. ent. Soc. 53: 5–50.Google Scholar