Socially facilitated egglaying behavior in Mediterranean fruit flies

We examined the behavior of individual mature female Mediterranean fruit flies (medflies), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), transferred from a holding cage without fruit to a clean host kumquat fruit already occupied by another medfly female engaged in ovipositional behavior. A significantly greater...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 1998-02, Vol.42 (2), p.117-122
Main Authors: Prokopy, R.J, Duan, J.J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal ethology
behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Ceratitis
Ceratitis capitata
Eggs
Female animals
females
Fruit flies
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Insect behavior
Mating behavior
Oviposition
Parasite hosts
Parasitoids
Pheromones
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
reproductive behavior
sexual behavior
Social facilitation
socially facilitated behavior
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Summary:We examined the behavior of individual mature female Mediterranean fruit flies (medflies), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), transferred from a holding cage without fruit to a clean host kumquat fruit already occupied by another medfly female engaged in ovipositional behavior. A significantly greater proportion of transferred (= test) ovipositionally naive females initiated ovipositor boring into a fruit in the presence than in the absence of an occupying medfly. Moreover, test females commenced boring significantly sooner in the presence than in the absence of another medfly. Interestingly, similar results occurred when a test medfly was transferred to a kumquat occupied by an ovipositing female oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel. In contrast, there was no enhancement of propensity to bore when a test medfly was transferred to a kumquat occupied by a female Biosteres arisanus (Sonan), a parasitoid attacking medfly eggs. The principal proximate stimulus giving rise to the higher tendency to oviposit of a test medfly in the presence of an occupying medfly or oriental fruit fly appeared to be wing-waving by the occupant during an encounter. We consider our findings to be good evidence of socially facilitated ovipositional behavior in ovipositionally naive medflies, and suggest that such females may benefit from acquisition of a cue demonstrating the acceptability of a host for oviposition.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/s002650050419