Tephritid fruit flies are quarantine pests of high economic importance crops through out the world. We have been studying the physiological mechanisms responsible for coordination of reproductive maturity and sex pheromone communication in males of several species of tephritid flies and have discovered that young mated male flies exhibit greater sexual prowess than their virgin counterparts. After mating for the first time, 6-7-day-old males released twice as much sex pheromone and acquired another mate in less than half the time required by virgin males of the same age. Mass spectroscopic analysis of extracts of hemolymph from mated and virgin 7-day-old males resulted in identification of three-fold more juvenile hormone III bisepoxide and juvenile hormone III in extracts from mated males than in extracts from virgins. We have shown that application of juvenile hormone analogs to newly eclosed males accelerates both reproductive maturity and pheromone production by 5 days. From these studies we conclude that juvenile hormone is a pivotal hormone coordinating the development of sexual signaling and reproductive maturity in these flies.
Keywords: juvenile hormone, trigger
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