Laboratory of Entomology, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8031, 6700 EH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
J Chem Ecol. 2011 Apr;37(4):364-7. doi: 10.1007/s10886-011-9935-2. Epub 2011 Mar 31.
Males of a variety of insects transfer an anti-aphrodisiac pheromone to females during mating that renders them less attractive to conspecific males. In cabbage white butterflies, the transfer of an anti-aphrodisiac can result in the unwanted attraction of tiny egg parasitoid wasps of the genus Trichogramma that hitch-hike with mated female butterflies to a host plant where they parasitize the freshly laid butterfly eggs. Here, we show that the anti-aphrodisiac benzyl cyanide (BC) of the large cabbage white Pieris brassicae is depleted by frequent display of the mate-refusal posture that signals a female's unreceptivity to mating. This depletion of BC is ecologically important because it results in a reduced risk of attracting the hitch-hiking egg parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae to mated female butterflies over time since mating. Our results indicate for the first time that a reduction in anti-aphrodisiac titre in mated females due to frequent adoption of the mate-refusal posture is beneficial to both mated females and males particularly when parasitoid pressure is high.
各种昆虫的雄性在交配时会向雌性传递一种抗引诱信息素，使它们对同种雄性的吸引力降低。在甘蓝粉蝶中，传递抗引诱信息素可能导致不想要的吸引微小的卵寄生蜂属赤眼蜂，它们与交配后的雌性蝴蝶一起搭便车到寄主植物上，在那里寄生刚产下的蝴蝶卵。在这里，我们表明，大甘蓝粉蝶 Pieris brassicae 的苯甲腈（BC）抗引诱剂通过频繁展示表示雌性对交配不接受的拒绝交配姿势而耗尽。BC 的这种消耗在生态学上是重要的，因为它随着时间的推移降低了吸引搭便车的卵寄生蜂赤眼蜂 Trichogramma brassicae 到交配后的雌性蝴蝶的风险，因为交配。我们的研究结果首次表明，由于频繁采用拒绝交配姿势，交配后的雌性体内抗引诱剂效价降低对交配后的雌性和雄性都有利，尤其是在寄生蜂压力较高时。
