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      Male courtship behaviour and potential for female mate choice in the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

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          Abstract

          The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) is a promising species used as protein source for aquaculture and zootechnical diets, which has been also proposed as biological tool for managing organic wastes. Here, we investigated the courtship and mating behaviour of H. illucens, recording the behavioural sequences displayed, the occurrence of same-sex interactions and the role of female-borne signals eliciting male courtship. The sequence of events leading to successful copulation is not dissimilar from other stratiomyid species, although H. illucens females were able to convey their preferences for mates according to male courtship behaviours. Males performed wing fanning during courtship prior to move backwards on the female body. Once the males mounted the females, they tapped the female abdomen with the tarsi of its second and third pairs of legs and attempted to accomplish preliminary genital contacts. Male wing fanning during mounting attempts seemed pivotal for female acceptance. Same-sex courtship behaviours were observed among males, which were not able to distinguish between males and females during the in-flight approach and the mounting attempt. Wing fanning played a key role also in evoking behavioural responses of males. Indeed, the males just approached conspecifics beating their wings during flight, while no courtship was recorded toward females that did not perform wing beating. This study improves the knowledge about sexual behaviour of H. illucens, highlighting the role of wing fanning among the range of sensory modalities used in the sexual communication of stratiomyid flies.

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          The evolution of male mate choice in insects: a synthesis of ideas and evidence.

          Mate choice by males has been recognized at least since Darwin's time, but its phylogenetic distribution and effect on the evolution of female phenotypes remain poorly known. Moreover, the relative importance of factors thought to underlie the evolution of male mate choice (especially parental investment and mate quality variance) is still unresolved. Here I synthesize the empirical evidence and theory pertaining to the evolution of male mate choice and sex role reversal in insects, and examine the potential for male mating preferences to generate sexual selection on female phenotypes. Although male mate choice has received relatively little empirical study, the available evidence suggests that it is widespread among insects (and other animals). In addition to 'precopulatory' male mate choice, some insects exhibit 'cryptic' male mate choice, varying the amount of resources allocated to mating on the basis of female mate quality. As predicted by theory, the most commonly observed male mating preferences are those that tend to maximize a male's expected fertilization success from each mating. Such preferences tend to favour female phenotypes associated with high fecundity or reduced sperm competition intensity. Among insect species there is wide variation in mechanisms used by males to assess female mate quality, some of which (e.g. probing, antennating or repeatedly mounting the female) may be difficult to distinguish from copulatory courtship. According to theory, selection for male choosiness is an increasing function of mate quality variance and those reproductive costs that reduce, with each mating, the number of subsequent matings that a male can perform ('mating investment') Conversely, choosiness is constrained by the costs of mate search and assessment, in combination with the accuracy of assessment of potential mates and of the distribution of mate qualities. Stronger selection for male choosiness may also be expected in systems where female fitness increases with each copulation than in systems where female fitness peaks at a small number of matings. This theoretical framework is consistent with most of the empirical evidence. Furthermore, a variety of observed male mating preferences have the potential to exert sexual selection on female phenotypes. However, because male insects typically choose females based on phenotypic indicators of fecundity such as body size, and these are usually amenable to direct visual or tactile assessment, male mate choice often tends to reinforce stronger vectors of fecundity or viability selection, and seldom results in the evolution of female display traits. Research on orthopterans has shown that complete sex role reversal (i.e. males choosy, females competitive) can occur when male parental investment limits female fecundity and reduces the potential rate of reproduction of males sufficiently to produce a female-biased operational sex ratio. By contrast, many systems exhibiting partial sex role reversal (i.e. males choosy and competitive) are not associated with elevated levels of male parental investment, reduced male reproductive rates, or reduced male bias in the operational sex ratio. Instead, large female mate quality variance resulting from factors such as strong last-male sperm precedence or large variance in female fecundity may select for both male choosiness and competitiveness in such systems. Thus, partial and complete sex role reversal do not merely represent different points along a continuum of increasing male parental investment, but may evolve via different evolutionary pathways.
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            Nitrogen-to-Protein Conversion Factors for Three Edible Insects: Tenebrio molitor, Alphitobius diaperinus, and Hermetia illucens

            Insects are considered a nutritionally valuable source of alternative proteins, and their efficient protein extraction is a prerequisite for large-scale use. The protein content is usually calculated from total nitrogen using the nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor (Kp) of 6.25. This factor overestimates the protein content, due to the presence of nonprotein nitrogen in insects. In this paper, a specific Kp of 4.76 ± 0.09 was calculated for larvae from Tenebrio molitor, Alphitobius diaperinus, and Hermetia illucens, using amino acid analysis. After protein extraction and purification, a Kp factor of 5.60 ± 0.39 was found for the larvae of three insect species studied. We propose to adopt these Kp values for determining protein content of insects to avoid overestimation of the protein content.
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              Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution.

              Same-sex sexual behavior has been extensively documented in non-human animals. Here we review the contexts in which it has been studied, focusing on case studies that have tested both adaptive and non-adaptive explanations for the persistence of same-sex sexual behavior. Researchers have begun to make headway unraveling possible evolutionary origins of these behaviors and reasons for their maintenance in populations, and we advocate expanding these approaches to examine their role as agents of evolutionary change. Future research employing theoretical, comparative and experimental approaches could provide a greater understanding not only of how selection might have driven the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviors but also ways in which such behaviors act as selective forces that shape social, morphological and behavioral evolution.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                entomologia
                Entomologia Generalis
                Journal of General and Applied Entomology - Zeitschrift für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie
                entomologia
                Schweizerbart Science Publishers (Stuttgart, Germany http://www.schweizerbart.com/ mail@ 123456schweizerbart.de )
                0171-8177
                28 September 2018
                26 October 2018
                : 38
                : 1
                : 29-46
                Affiliations
                Department of Agriculture, University “Mediterranea” of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
                Author notes
                Article
                89814 0657
                10.1127/entomologia/2018/0657
                4c37b469-e016-42ec-9195-b17895348bdd
                Copyright © 2018 E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany
                History
                : 13 March 2018
                : 23 July 2018
                : 03 August 2018
                : 10 August 2018
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 2, Pages: 18
                Custom metadata
                1
                research_paper

                Entomology,Parasitology,Ecology,Molecular biology,Pests, Diseases & Weeds
                mating,flight mill,same-sex interactions,copula,mass-rearing,reproduction

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