Acoustic courtship songs in males of the fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae) associated with geography, mass rearing and courtship success

Abstract

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been used successfully to control or eradicate fruit flies. The commonly observed inferiority of mass-reared males, compared with wild males, when they are paired with wild females, is apparently due to their inadequate courtship. Anastrepha ludens males produce two types of wing vibration during courtship and mating, the “calling sound” and the “premating or precopulatory sound”. There were clear differences in the calling songs between successful and unsuccessful courtships in sterile (irradiated) and fertile Mexican flies. Among sterile flies, successful males produce longer buzzes, shorter interpulses and a higher power spectrum in the signal. Fertile flies showed the same trend. For mating songs a significant difference occurred in two parameters: power spectrum between sterile and fertile flies with respect to the type of song, and the signal duration and intensity were greater in non-irradiated flies. Calling songs of wild flies compared with laboratory grown flies from Mexico had shorter interpulses, longer pulses, and a greater power spectrum. However, in the case of premating songs, the only difference was in the intensity, which was significantly greater in wild males. An unexpected result was not observing pulses during pheromone deposition in wild males from Costa Rica. Comparing the premating songs of wild flies from Costa Rica and Mexico, no significant differences were observed in the duration, and the intensity of the signal was slightly greater in flies