Etude De La Receptivite Sexuelle De La Femelle De Calliphora Vomitoria (Dipteres, Calliphoridae) Au Cours Du Premier Cycle Gonadotrope

With both behavioural and physiological parameters we have studied the development of the sexual receptivity in females Calliphora vomitoria during the first gonadotropic cycle. From a behavioural point of view, we have noticed a temporal patterning in the appearance of the maximum attractivity (4 days after emergence), minimum courtship duration (5 days after emergence) and the maximum receptivity (6 days after emergence). The sexual receptivity is correlated with vitellogeny and increases with the growth of the ovaries. It is partly inhibited by precocial ovariectomy (6 hours after emergence) and totally suppressed by allatectomy (3 hours after emergence). A topical application of ZR-515 (1 ul at a 3 ug/ul concentration) induces an anticipative receptivity (1 day) and an acceleration of ovarian growth. We obtained an optimal effect when the application takes place some hours before the beginning of vitellogeny (2 days instead of 3 hours after eclosion). Concentration of roughly 30, 300 and 600 ug/ul have an inhibitory effect upon the sexual receptivity and its associated parameters. The attractivity of females for males is only partly related to their receptivity: it appears early (2 days) for all flies, but it remains always lower in non-receptive mature females compared to receptive mature females. Neither ovariectomy nor allatectomy are able to prevent it to appear, which suggests that JH is not involved in that process.

Affiliations: 1: (Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie, ERA n° 700, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cédex, France