The Mating Behaviour of Females ofGlossina palpalis(R.-D.) in Captivity

Abstract

Experiments were carried out in the laboratory with individually marked females ofGlossina palpalis(R.-D.); various aspects of their mating behaviour, when placed with virgin 7-day-old males, were studied.Using virgins, females 1–3 days old mated for an average period of about two hours, females 4–9 days old for about 75 minutes, and 10-day-old females for somewhat less than one hour.Using virgins, mating was found to be relatively infrequent in 1-day-old females, maximal in females 2 and 3 days old and thereafter decreased as the age of the females increased.Females up to 10 days of age were found to be willing to mate on a number of occasions; re-mating was more frequent among the younger flies. The number of older females ofG. palpaliswhich are prepared to re-mate is very small.Previously mated females ofG. palpaliswere shown to be less willing to mate than virgin females of the same age. It seems that this is due to a decrease in desire for mating by the females rather than a loss of attractiveness to males.The implication of these laboratory findings, in relation to fly behaviour in the field, is discussed. It is suggested that a considerable proportion of young females ofG. palpalisis prepared to re-mate in nature, on a number of occasions, but that the desire for mating is extinguished much sooner in life in mated females than it is in virgin females.