Cuticular Hydrocarbons of the South American Fruit Fly Anastrepha fraterculus: Variability with Sex and Age

Abstract

Insect cuticular hydrocarbons are usually species-specific mixtures and may serve for species and gender recognition. They are, therefore, widely used in the chemotaxonomy and zoogeography of various insect taxa. In order to provide a basic study for further comparative analyses of cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles of cryptic species hidden within the South American fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus complex (Diptera: Tephritidae), we analyzed the composition of the CHCs and their production with respect to age and sex in a laboratory population from Tucuman, Argentina. Several techniques of gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection have been used in order to develop a suitable method for CHC identification, i.e., GC-MS in EI mode, GC-MS in CI mode, and GC×GC/TOFMS. Our analyses revealed a complex profile of aliphatic hydrocarbons in both males and females, consisting predominantly of n-alkanes, methyl-branched alkanes, as well as of alkenes and alkadienes. In young individuals (up to about 5 days after emergence), the CHC profiles were similar in males and females. However, in older flies, these profiles diverged and became clearly sex-specific. The temporal dynamics of the CHC patterns in both sexes were evaluated using multivariate exploratory techniques.

Effect of age on cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in adult Chrysomya putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

“…Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) CHCs range in chain length from C16 to C35 [17] and the CHCs from Anopheles gambiae Giles, 1926 ranged from C17 to C47 [34]. CHCs from the fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann, 1830) varied from C13 to C37 [42]. Moore et al [24] studied CHCs from blowfly larvae of Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and obtained chain lengths that varied from C16 to C33.…”

“…Many dipterans have cuticular hydrocarbon compositions that vary as the insect ages, especially among those species where pheromone components are present as cuticular hydrocarbons. For example, the female housefly has an increase in both ( Z )-9-tricosene and methylalkanes during days 1-5 [31] and hydrocarbon profiles change in both A. gambie [34] and A. fraterculus [42] as adults age. A related to age increase or decrease in the relative abundances of some of the CHCs may be observed.…”

Female Age Determines Remating Behavior in Wild Mexican Fruit Flies

“…First copulation (mating) Second copulation (re-mating) (22) --tends to decrease with male age but not female age (Vanicková et al 2012). Changes in CHCs profiles with male age have also been observed in the housefly Musca domestica and the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae (Mpuru et al 2001;Caputo et al 2005).…”

An integrative approach to unravel the Ceratitis FAR (Diptera, Tephritidae) cryptic species complex: a review

“…As a result of their species-specificity, CHCs are widely used for identification of sibling or cryptic species (Kather and Martin 2012). Recent studies on CHC profiles of drosophilid (Jennings et al 2014) and tephritid flies (Vaníčková 2012, Vaníčková et al 2015) evaluated the use of CHCs in delineating groups within supposedly cryptic taxa. An initial analysis included one population each of the three morphospecies within the FAR complex and Ceratitis capitata as a comparative taxon (Vaníčková 2012, Vaníčková et al 2014).…”

“…Recent studies on CHC profiles of drosophilid (Jennings et al 2014) and tephritid flies (Vaníčková 2012, Vaníčková et al 2015) evaluated the use of CHCs in delineating groups within supposedly cryptic taxa. An initial analysis included one population each of the three morphospecies within the FAR complex and Ceratitis capitata as a comparative taxon (Vaníčková 2012, Vaníčková et al 2014). Male and female specimens were obtained from the colonies kept at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology, ICIPE (for FAR complex) and the FAO/International Atomic Energy Agency Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories in Seibersdorf (for Ceratitis capitata ) and were genotyped, following Delatte et al (2013) and Virgilio et al (2013).…”