Divito Franco, De Simone Gabriel A, Pompilio Lorena, Manrique Gabriel
Laboratorio de Fisiología de Insectos, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IBBEA, UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina.
Laboratorio de Ecología y Comportamiento Animal, Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IEGEBA, UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina.
Insects. 2025 Mar 18;16(3):312. doi: 10.3390/insects16030312.
The kissing bug is a nocturnal species; however, its temporal mating patterns remain unexplored. Copulation lasts about fifty minutes, during which time the couple remains almost motionless. We hypothesized that copulates within shelters to reduce its vulnerability. To test this, we examined the spatial and temporal patterns of its copulation, as well as the potential endogenous regulation of its circadian rhythm, under three conditions: a light:dark cycle (L/D), constant light (L/L), and constant darkness (D/D). Over ten days, the number and the timing of copulation of pairs in arenas containing a shelter were video-recorded. Under the L/D cycle, the pairs mated mainly during daylight hours. This rhythm persisted under the D/D cycle, with a peak extending from the first half of the subjective day to the first half of the subjective night. No rhythm was observed under the L/L cycle. A greater proportion of mating occurred within the shelters during the L/D and L/L cycles, whereas its spatial distribution was random under the D/D cycle. Our results reveal an endogenously controlled circadian rhythm of mating behavior, with mating activity mainly occurring during daylight hours. Additionally, we showed that the pairs copulated inside the shelters. These results provide new insights into the reproductive behavior of .
接吻虫是夜行性物种；然而，其交配的时间模式仍未得到探索。交配持续约50分钟，在此期间，这一对几乎保持不动。我们推测，接吻虫在庇护所内交配是为了降低其脆弱性。为了验证这一点，我们在三种条件下研究了其交配的空间和时间模式，以及其昼夜节律的潜在内源性调节：光照：黑暗周期（L/D）、持续光照（L/L）和持续黑暗（D/D）。在十天时间里，对放置有庇护所的实验场地内成对接吻虫的交配次数和时间进行了视频记录。在L/D周期下，成对的接吻虫主要在白天交配。这种节律在D/D周期下持续存在，峰值从主观日的上半段延伸至主观夜的上半段。在L/L周期下未观察到节律。在L/D和L/L周期中，更大比例的交配发生在庇护所内，而在D/D周期下其空间分布是随机的。我们的结果揭示了交配行为的内源性昼夜节律，交配活动主要发生在白天。此外，我们还表明，成对的接吻虫在庇护所内交配。这些结果为接吻虫的生殖行为提供了新的见解。
