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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Courtship, Mating, and Sex Pheromones in the Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio molitor)

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Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on courtship and mating in a coleopteran, the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), observation and description of the behavior of (relatively) undisturbed animals, and the response of male Tenebrio molitor to the female sex attractant pheromone. Pheromones used in communication between members of the opposite sex in a mating context are collectively termed sex pheromones. In many insect species, detection of a sex pheromone is often sufficient to initiate the species-typical courtship and mating behaviors, although the release of these behaviors can be modified by visual, tactile, acoustic, or other types of stimuli. For example, upon detecting a few hundred molecules of the female pheromone bombykol, males of the silkworm moth (Bombyx mor) immediately start beating their wings in a “flutter dance” and approach the source of the pheromone. As many as three different pheromones may participate in the courtship and mating of Tenebrio molitor.