Search results for " courtship"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Could male tergal secretions be considered as a nuptial gift in the Madeira cockroach?
2008
International audience; Many male insects provide somatic nuptial gifts that may strongly influence reproductive fitness, ensuring effective copulation or mediating paternal resource benefits in offspring. Although the courtship feeding behaviour on tergal gland secretions has been described in numerous cockroaches, studies on the function of these so-called nuptial gifts are lacking in this group. In this study, we examined, in the Madeira cockroach, Leucophaea maderae, the functional significance of tergal secretions by manipulating their availability on the back of males. We tested whether male tergal secretions function as a form of mating effort, and/or as a form of paternal investment…
Functional Gustatory Role of Chemoreceptors in Drosophila Wings
2016
Summary: Neuroanatomical evidence argues for the presence of taste sensilla in Drosophila wings; however, the taste physiology of insect wings remains hypothetical, and a comprehensive link to mechanical functions, such as flight, wing flapping, and grooming, is lacking. Our data show that the sensilla of the Drosophila anterior wing margin respond to both sweet and bitter molecules through an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ levels. Conversely, genetically modified flies presenting a wing-specific reduction in chemosensory cells show severe defects in both wing taste signaling and the exploratory guidance associated with chemodetection. In Drosophila, the chemodetection machinery includes mechan…
Genetic identification of neurons controlling a sexually dimorphic behaviour
2000
0960-9822 (Print) Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, locomotor activity is sexually dimorphic: female flies constantly modulate their activity pattern whereas males show a steadier, stereotyped walking pace [1]. Here, we mapped the area of the brain controlling this behavioural dimorphism. Adult male Drosophila expressing a dominant feminising transgene in a small cluster of neurons in the pars intercerebralis exhibited a female-like pattern of locomotor activity. Genetic ablation of these neurons prevented the feminisation of the locomotor activity of transgenic males. The results suggest that this cluster of neurons modulates sex-sp…
Genes involved in sex pheromone discrimination in Drosophila melanogaster and their background-dependent effect.
2012
International audience; Mate choice is based on the comparison of the sensory quality of potential mating partners, and sex pheromones play an important role in this process. In Drosophila melanogaster, contact pheromones differ between male and female in their content and in their effects on male courtship, both inhibitory and stimulatory. To investigate the genetic basis of sex pheromone discrimination, we experimentally selected males showing either a higher or lower ability to discriminate sex pheromones over 20 generations. This experimental selection was carried out in parallel on two different genetic backgrounds: wild-type and desat1 mutant, in which parental males showed high and l…
Drosophila female courtship and mating behaviors: sensory signals, genes, neural structures and evolution.
2010
International audience; Interest in Drosophila courtship behavior has a long-standing tradition, starting with the works by Sturtevant in 1915, and by Bastock and Manning in the 50s. The neural and genetic base of Drosophila melanogaster courtship behavior has made big strides in recent years, but the studies on males far outnumber those on females. Recent technical developments have made it possible to begin to unravel the biological substrates underlying the complexity of Drosophila female sexual behavior and its decisive effect on mating success. The present review focus more on the female side and summarizes the sensory signals that the male sends, using multiple channels, and which neu…
An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila.
2011
International audience; Many animals attract mating partners through the release of volatile sex pheromones, which can convey information on the species, gender and receptivity of the sender to induce innate courtship and mating behaviours by the receiver. Male Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies display stereotyped reproductive behaviours towards females, and these behaviours are controlled by the neural circuitry expressing male-specific isoforms of the transcription factor Fruitless (FRU(M)). However, the volatile pheromone ligands, receptors and olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that promote male courtship have not been identified in this important model organism. Here we describe a novel…
“‘A house divided against itself cannot stand': Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish and American National Unity in 1858.”
2007
International audience
Decoupled Acoustic and Visual Components in the Multimodal Signals of the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
2021
Because of its parasitic habits, reproduction costs of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) are mostly spent in pre-laying activities. Female costs are limited to searching host nests and laying eggs, whereas, males spend time in performing intense vocal displays, possibly with territorial purpose. This last aspect, together with a sexual plumage dimorphism, points to both intra- and inter-sexual selections operating within this species. One element triggering sexual selection is a differential fitness accrued by different phenotypes. Before analyzing possible sexual selection mechanisms operating in cuckoos, it is therefore necessary to verify whether there is a variability among male secon…
A female-produced short-range sex pheromone in the egg parasitoid Trissolcus brochymenae
2012
The potential for short-range sex pheromone communication by the egg parasitoid wasp Trissolcus brochymenae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) was investigated in closed arena bioassays. Males of this parasitoid showed more antennal drumming and more frequent mounting behaviour on 1- to 2-d-old virgin females compared with 8-d-old virgin females. Male copulation attempts were fewer with previously mated females than with virgin females. Males courted and made copulation attempts with 1- to 2-d-old female cadavers, but not with male cadavers or with female cadavers rinsed in organic solvents of different polarities. Male attraction to female cadavers was re-established by treating cadavers with a…
I RUSTICA MUNERA DI CORIDONE (A MARGINE DI VERG., ECL. 2, 45-55)
2022
Within the second Eclogue, the rustica munera offered by Corydon to Alexis (vv. 45-55), while obeying a somewhat conventional plot, reveal a complex intertextual stratigraphy. Unexpectedly, δωροφόροι of di vine rank join the shepherd in paying homage to the ephebe, bringing bas kets full of lilies and a garland of flowers and herbs, to which fruits and branches of laurel and myrtle will be added. The tradition of the rubrics of στεφανωτικὰ ἄνθη, testified by Athenaeus in the 15th book of the Deipno sophistae, allows us to test both the rate of conventionality of the entire ecphrasis, and the variations made by Vergil to the lists of flowers and herbs, as well as Greek poetry as well as genr…