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The Effects of a Male Audience on Male and Female Mating Behaviour in the Blood-Sucking Bug Rhodnius prolixus

  • Ecology, Behavior and Bionomics
  • Published:
Neotropical Entomology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social context is a key factor affecting sexual behaviour and cannot be neglected in gregarious species, such as triatomine blood-sucking bugs. Here we study the influence of the social context on the sexual reproductive behaviour of males and females of Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Specifically, we identify and compare the frequencies and sequence of sexual behaviours exhibited by a focal pair in presence or absence of a male audience. We expect that in presence of a male audience females increase their selectiveness level since the risk of losing infertile eggs decreases in presence of more candidates and females can benefit from copulating with a better quality male. Besides, in presence of potential rivals, we expect changes in the sexual behaviour of focal males, associated to a reduction in the risk of sperm competition. As expected, in presence of a male audience, females significantly increased the exhibition of rejection behaviour. Moreover, focal males exhibited shorter latencies to mount the female, longer duration of copula, and differences in their stereotyped behaviour exhibited during copula. We discuss the influence of the social context on the reproductive behaviour of females and males of R. prolixus.

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Acknowledgements

The second and the last author contributed equally to this article and both are the corresponding authors. The authors are deeply indebted to the staff members of our laboratories for fruitful discussions which improve the work, and Amir Dyzenchauz for English corrections. The support from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) Argentina is also acknowledged.

Funding

This work was supported by grants to GM from CONICET (PIP 11220130100550CO), UBA (UBACyT-20020170100571BA), and ANPCyT (PICT 2018-02634).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab de Fisiología de Insectos, Depto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Univ de Buenos Aires, IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gabriel A. De Simone & Gabriel Manrique

  2. Lab de Ecología y Comportamiento Animal, Depto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Univ de Buenos Aires, IEGEBA, CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Lorena Pompilio

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  1. Gabriel A. De Simone
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Contributions

Gabriel Manrique and Lorena Pompilio designed this research and wrote the manuscript with significant contributions from all. Gabriel De Simone conducted all the experiments, with contributions of Lorena Pompilio and Gabriel Manrique. The final manuscript was read and approved by all authors.

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Correspondence to Lorena Pompilio or Gabriel Manrique.

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We did not observe any harmful effects associated to our experimental manipulation. At the end of the experiment, the insects were returned to their breeding cages and the hens to the chicken coop. All animals were handled according to the biosafety rules from the Servicio de Higiene y Seguridad of the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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De Simone, G.A., Pompilio, L. & Manrique, G. The Effects of a Male Audience on Male and Female Mating Behaviour in the Blood-Sucking Bug Rhodnius prolixus. Neotrop Entomol 51, 212–220 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-021-00935-6

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