The mating behavior of the sciarid fly, Lycoriella mali, a serious insect pest of mushroom cultivation in Japan, was analyzed for the presence of sex pheromones. The male flies made copulatory responses, such as wing fannning, ventral bending of abdomen and opening of clasper, to the female flies, crude extracts of the female fles and separate body parts of the female flies. Unmated males made copulatory responses to females when older than 1h after adult eclosion. The females elicited copulatory responses by males until 3 days after adult eclosion. On the other hand, males showed copulatory responses even at 9 days after adult eclosion. The copulatory duration of males to mated females decreased quickly after the female had mated once.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA