Daily periodicity of attraction for males to females and mating in the sorghum plant bug, stenotus rubrovittatus (matsumura)

In order to examine the daily periodicity of the attraction of males to females in the sorghum plant bug, Stenotus rubrovittatus, males captured on sticky traps baited with 10 virgin females were investigated every four hours. Male bugs were captured in traps, but the number of males captured was none or few from noon to four o'clock in the afternoon in a day. This result suggests the daily periodicity of attraction of males to females. To examine the daily periodicity of mating, thirty pairs of virgin adults six days after emergence were released into a rearing cage in the laboratory at different times of day. The number of mated females was checked 4 h later. The percentage of mated females did not differ regardless of the time of release and the light conditions. This result suggests that there is no daily periodicity in mating. Copyright (c) 2009 by The Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology.