Courtship behavior in Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae): comparison of wild and mass-reared males

Abstract

Field studies in Hawaii have shown that irradiated males from a long-established, laboratory strain of Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), obtain few matings with wild females. However, sterile males successfully locate natural lek sites, signal (pheromone call) as frequently as wild males, and attract similar numbers of females to their territory. Thus, the low mating success of sterile males presumably resulted from their inability to perform courtship acceptable to wild females. Here, we investigate possible differences in the courtship behavior of wild and mass-reared males when mating with wild females. Courtships were videotaped, and transitions between specific behavioral elements were analyzed for both males and females. Mating by wild males usually followed a predictable sequence of male and female behaviors: male calling → female approach → male wing vibrating → female standing → male wing fanning → copulation. In contrast, these transitions were generally absent in the courtship of mass-reared males. Although not lacking any of the major behavioral elements, courtship of mass-reared males was characterized by a low degree of behavioral integration between the sexes.