Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 13:8:95-103.
doi: 10.4137/IJIS.S32481. eCollection 2016.

Relationships of Reproductive Traits With the Phylogeny of the African Noctuid Stem Borers

Paul-André Calatayud  1 , Stéphane Dupas  2 , Brigitte Frérot  3 , Gilles Genestier  3 , Peter Ahuya  4 , Claire Capdevielle-Dulac  2 , Bruno Le Ru  1
Affiliations

Relationships of Reproductive Traits With the Phylogeny of the African Noctuid Stem Borers

Paul-André Calatayud et al. Int J Insect Sci. .

Abstract

The display of the reproductive behavior in most noctuid Lepidoptera follows a diel periodicity and is limited to a precise period of either the day or the night. These behavioral traits and the sex pheromone chemistry can be species specific and thus might be linked to the phylogeny. The objective of this study was to test the relationship of these reproductive traits with phylogeny. The study was undertaken using eight closely related species of noctuid stem borers, which are easy to rear under artificial conditions, namely, Busseola fusca, B. nairobica, B. sp. nr. segeta, Manga melanodonta, M. sp. nr. nubifera, Pirateolea piscator, Sesamia calamistis, and S. nonagrioides. For each species, the adult emergence period, the mating time, and the oviposition period were estimated, referred as biological traits. The components of the sex pheromones emitted by the females of each species were also analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Among the biological traits measured, only those linked to the oviposition pattern (timing and egg loads per night) were significantly correlated with the phylogeny of these species. For the sex pheromone components, among the 13 components identified in all species, only four, namely, Z9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-TDA), Z11-TDA, E11-TDA, and Z11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-HDA), showed the highest significant correlations with the phylogeny. These results suggest that among the different reproductive traits evaluated, only few are phylogenetically constrained. Their involvement in the reinforcement of ecological speciation in noctuid stem borers is discussed.

Keywords: E11-tetradecenyl acetate (E11-TDA); Lepidoptera; Z11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-HDA); Z11-tetradecenyl acetate (Z11-TDA); Z9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-TDA); adult emergence period; mating time; oviposition period; sex pheromone chemicals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic Bayesian tree using 1896 bp (COI + EF-1α). Posterior probabilities are given at nodes. Brithys crini is used as the outgroup.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean mating times (left) (n = 20–50) and oviposition times (right) (n = 15–30) of different Lepidoptera species.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean total number of eggs laid per female (n = 10–20) of different Lepidoptera species during several nights (1N, 2N … 10N: first night, second night … tenth night) after the night of mating.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean emergence times (n = 20–70) of males and females during the day (left) and during the night (right) of different Lepidoptera species.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Frérot B, Foster SP. Sex pheromone evidence for two distinct taxa within Graphania mutans (Walker) J Chem Ecol. 1991;17:2077–2093. - PubMed
    1. Pelozuelo L, Malosse C, Genestier G, Guenego H, Frérot B. Host-plant specialization in pheromone strains of the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis in France. J Chem Ecol. 2004;30:335–352. - PubMed
    1. Descoins C, Frérot B. Sex pheromone specificity in the tortricid fauna of apple-orchards. In: Ritter FJ, editor. Chemical Ecology: Odour Communication in Animals. North Holland; Amsterdam Elsevier; 1979. pp. 181–185.
    1. Roelofs WL, Brown RL. Pheromones and evolutionary relationships of Tortricidae. Annu Rev Ecol Syst. 1982;13:395–422.
    1. Newcomb RD, Gleeson DM. Pheromone evolution within the genera Ctenopseus-tis and Planotortrix (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) inferred from a phylogeny based on cytochrome oxidase I gene variation. Biochem Syst Ecol. 1998;26:473–484.

LinkOut - more resources