Antennal grooming facilitates courtship performance in a group-living insect, the German cockroach Blattella germanica

The antennae of adult male German cockroaches detect a contact sex pheromone embedded in the female’s cuticular lipids. The female pheromone stimulates courtship behavior in males, notably a wing-raising (WR) display. Within aggregations, however, cuticular lipids are disseminated by contact among g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-02, Vol.9 (1), p.2942-2942, Article 2942
Main Authors: Wada-Katsumata, Ayako, Schal, Coby
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/856
631/181/2469
631/601/1466
Acuity
Animal behavior
Antennae
Appendages
Blattaria
Blattella germanica
Central nervous system
Chemoreception
Cockroaches
Contamination
Courtship
Grooming
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lipids
Males
multidisciplinary
Pheromones
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sensilla
Sex discrimination
Sex pheromone
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Summary:The antennae of adult male German cockroaches detect a contact sex pheromone embedded in the female’s cuticular lipids. The female pheromone stimulates courtship behavior in males, notably a wing-raising (WR) display. Within aggregations, however, cuticular lipids are disseminated by contact among group members, including nymphs and adults of both sexes, and “contamination” of cockroaches with the cuticular lipids of another stage or sex may interfere with sex discrimination and disrupt courtship. We used behavioral observations, bioassays and chemical analysis to determine how males maintain their sensitivity to sex pheromone in aggregations. Males contaminated with female pheromone displayed lower courtship, because residual female pheromone on their antennae adapted their peripheral sensilla and habituated the central nervous system. Female pheromone that contaminated the male’s antennae also elicited courtship from other non-contaminated males, disrupting their sex discrimination in the group. However, antennal grooming effectively removed female pheromone from males’ antennae and maintained their chemosensory acuity and sexual discrimination among group members. Thus, grooming of the antennae and other sensory appendages is an important strategy to enhance sensory acuity, especially in group-living insects like the German cockroach.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-39868-x