Eur. J. Entomol. 99 (4): 451-456, 2002 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2002.057

Mating behaviour of Aphidius ervi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): The role of antennae

Donatella BATTAGLIA1, Nunzio ISIDORO2, Roberto ROMANI3, Ferdinando BIN3, Francesco PENNACHIO1,*
1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro-Forestali, Universita della Basilicata, Macchia Romana, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
2 Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Agrarie ed Ambientali, Universita di Ancona, via Brecce Bianche, 60100 Ancona, Italy.
3 Dipartimento di Arboricoltura e Protezione delle Piante, Universita di Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy.

In the mating behaviour of Aphidius ervi Haliday the antennae play a pivotal role in partner recognition and acceptance. Mating failure was always observed when antennal contact was experimentally prevented. The male of A. ervi has filiform antennae, consisting of scape, pedicel and 18-20 cylindrical antennomeres (flagellar segments), which bear numerous types of sensory structures and, interspersed among the multiporous plate sensilla, especially on the 1th and 2nd flagellar segments, scattered pores. A secretion oozes from these pores in virgin males exposed to conspecific females. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that these pores are the external openings of integumentary glands. Behavioural and morpho-functional observations indicated that a double step sex recognition mechanism is present in A. ervi, as in other parasitic Hymenoptera. Basically, female recognition by males appears to be mediated by a volatile sex pheromone, that triggers the behavioural sequence leading to mounting. Then, the female recognizes and accepts the male after antennal contact. This is mediated by the secretion that oozes from the male antennal glands, which acts as a contact pheromone.

Keywords: Mating behaviour, ultrastructure, parasitoid, pheromone, functional anatomy, antennal glands, sensilla, Aphidius ervi, Aphidiinae

Received: May 25, 2001; Revised: November 6, 2001; Accepted: January 7, 2002; Published: December 10, 2002  Show citation

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BATTAGLIA, D., ISIDORO, N., ROMANI, R., BIN, F., & PENNACHIO, F. (2002). Mating behaviour of Aphidius ervi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): The role of antennae. EJE, 99(4), 451-456. doi: 10.14411/eje.2002.057
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