López-Muñoz L, López E F, Feliciano C A, Soto D N, Pérez-Staples D
Programa Moscamed SAGARPA-SENASICA, Metapa de Domínguez, Chiapas, México.
Instituto de Biotecnología y Ecología Aplicada (INBIOTECA), Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
J Econ Entomol. 2018 Feb 9;111(1):491-494. doi: 10.1093/jee/tox298.
The monitoring of a pest population often relies on the identification of individuals from traps. For area-wide programs utilizing the sterile insect technique, the further identification of the mated status of females found in traps is of utmost importance. For the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), this is usually verified through the assessment of sperm in the spermathecae. However, this can be misleading for species where there are other sperm storage organs such as the ventral receptacle. Here, we studied the relative importance of sperm storage in the ventral receptacle compared to the spermathecae for females from 5 to 18 d of age. Furthermore, we studied how sperm can be identified in the ventral receptacle or spermathecae after females were recovered from traps. We found no effect of female age on likelihood of sperm storage. Sperm could be identified in both sperm storage organs at 7 or 14 d after females had been placed in traps. We found that the ventral receptacle is a more reliable indicator of female mated status. Thus, we propose that if no sperm are found in the spermathecae, program managers should revise the ventral receptacle before assuming that females are not mated. This test may also be relevant to other pest tephritids that store even more sperm in the ventral receptacle than C. capitata.
害虫种群监测通常依赖于从诱捕器中识别个体。对于采用不育昆虫技术的区域治理项目而言，进一步识别诱捕器中雌虫的交配状态至关重要。对于地中海实蝇，即果实蝇（Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)，双翅目：实蝇科），这通常通过评估受精囊中精子来验证。然而，对于存在其他精子储存器官（如腹侧受精囊）的物种，这可能会产生误导。在此，我们研究了5至18日龄雌虫的腹侧受精囊中精子储存相对于受精囊的相对重要性。此外，我们研究了在从诱捕器中回收雌虫后，如何在腹侧受精囊或受精囊中识别精子。我们发现雌虫年龄对精子储存可能性没有影响。在雌虫被放置在诱捕器7天或14天后，在两个精子储存器官中都能识别出精子。我们发现腹侧受精囊是雌虫交配状态更可靠的指标。因此，我们建议，如果在受精囊中未发现精子，项目管理人员在假定雌虫未交配之前应检查腹侧受精囊。该检测对于其他在腹侧受精囊中储存的精子比地中海实蝇更多的害虫实蝇可能也有意义。
