Age-related mating rates among ecologically distinct lineages of bedbugs, Cimex lectularius

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F23%3A97487" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/23:97487 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216224:14310/23:00131556

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-023-00505-z" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-023-00505-z</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-023-00505-z" target="_blank" >10.1186/s12983-023-00505-z</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Age-related mating rates among ecologically distinct lineages of bedbugs, Cimex lectularius

Original language description

Understanding how many mates an animal has in its lifetime is a critical factor in sexual selection. At the same time, differences in an organism's ecology, such as the quantity and quality of food, could be reflected in different mating rates. Mating rate had a significant effect on female net fitness (i.e., lifetime offspring production), however, laboratory measurements cannot well mirror the situation in wild. The common bedbug (Cimex lectularius) is a well-established model for studying traumatic insemination and sexual conflict. The species comprises two host lineages that feed on bats (BL) or humans (HL). HL can constantly feed on human hosts throughout the year, while BLs feed only during summer months when their bat hosts occupy the roosts. Because mating in female bedbugs is closely linked to foraging, this system provides a valuable model to study mating variation in the field. We established a new method for estimating age-dependent mating rates of females in the wild by relating the fluorescent pigment accumulation in the eyes of females to the number of mating scars that manifest as melanized spots caused by the injection of sperm through the wall of the female abdomen by the male into the spermalege. In addition, using laboratory bedbugs we found that three and a half observed matings on average lead to one observed melanized mating scar. Although young BL and HL females (with low pteridine concentrations) did not differ in the number of matings, the mating rate increased with age only in HL but not in BL females. We sampled on average older BL than HL females. The lack of access to food (bat blood) during winter could explain the lack of increase in the number of scars with age in BL. In species where mating leaves visible marks, using fluorescent pigments to determine female age (applicable to most arthropods) could be an important tool to study sexual selection and mating rate in the wild. The method can help formulate sustainable and biologically lucid approaches for their control.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GC18-08468J" target="_blank" >GC18-08468J: The role of sperm adaptation and sperm plasticity in ecological speciation</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Frontiers in Zoology

ISSN

1742-9994

e-ISSN

1742-9994

Volume of the periodical

20

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

1-9

UT code for WoS article

001037467600001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85165972883