Chemical Ecology Group, Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, Keele University, Keele ST5 5BG, UK.
Parasit Vectors. 2012 Aug 30;5:179. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-5-179.
The sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi is an Old World vector of Leishmania major, the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. This study describes the courtship behaviour of P. papatasi and compares it with that of Lutzomyia longipalpis, the New World vector of visceral leishmaniasis. Understanding the details of courtship behaviour in P. papatasi may help us to understand the role of sex pheromones in this important vector.
P. papatasi courtship was found to start with the female touching the male, leading him to begin abdomen bending and wing flapping. Following a period of leg rubbing and facing, the male flaps his wings while approaching the female. The female then briefly flaps her wings in response, to indicate that she is willing to mate, thereby signaling the male to begin copulation. Male P. papatasi did not engage in parading behaviour, which is performed by male L. longipalpis to mark out individual territories during lekking (the establishment and maintenance of mating aggregations), or wing-flap during copulation, believed to function in the production of audio signals important to mate recognition. In P. papatasi the only predictor of mating success for males was previous copulation attempts and for females stationary wing-flapping. By contrast, male L. longipalpis mating success is predicted by male approach-flapping and semi-circling behaviour and for females stationary wing-flapping.
The results show that there are important differences between the mating behaviours of P. papatasi and L. longipalpis. Abdomen bending, which does not occur in L. longipalpis, may act in the release of sex pheromone from an as yet unidentified site in the male abdomen. In male L. longipalpis wing-flapping is believed to be associated with distribution of male pheromone. These different behaviours are likely to signify significant differences in how pheromone is used, an observation that is consistent with field and laboratory observations.
沙蝇 Phlebotomus papatasi 是旧世界利什曼原虫（引起动物源性皮肤利什曼病的病原体）的媒介。本研究描述了 P. papatasi 的求偶行为，并将其与新热带内脏利什曼病的媒介 Lutzomyia longipalpis 的求偶行为进行了比较。了解 P. papatasi 求偶行为的细节可能有助于我们理解性信息素在这种重要媒介中的作用。
发现 P. papatasi 的求偶行为始于雌性触碰雄性，雄性开始腹部弯曲和翅膀拍打。经过一段时间的腿部摩擦和面对面，雄性在靠近雌性时拍打翅膀。然后，雌性短暂地拍打翅膀作为回应，表明她愿意交配，从而向雄性发出交配信号。雄性 P. papatasi 不会进行雄蝇在群舞交配（建立和维持交配聚集）时进行的巡游行为，也不会在交配时拍打翅膀，这被认为是产生对交配识别很重要的音频信号的功能。在 P. papatasi 中，雄性成功交配的唯一预测因素是之前的交配尝试和雌性静止的翅膀拍打。相比之下，雄性 L. longipalpis 交配成功的预测因素是雄性的接近拍打和半盘旋行为以及雌性静止的翅膀拍打。
结果表明，P. papatasi 和 L. longipalpis 的交配行为存在重要差异。腹部弯曲在 L. longipalpis 中不会发生，可能在雄性腹部释放性信息素的未知部位发挥作用。在雄性 L. longipalpis 中，翅膀拍打被认为与雄性信息素的分布有关。这些不同的行为可能表明信息素的使用方式存在显著差异，这一观察结果与野外和实验室观察结果一致。
