Lateralization of Courtship Traits Impacts Pentatomid Male Mating Success—Evidence from Field Observations

Abstract

Lateralization has been documented in many insect species, but limited information on courtship and mating lateralization in wild conditions is available. We conducted field investigation on the courtship and mating behavior of the neem bug, Halys dentatus, a polyphagous insect mainly infesting Azadirachta indica, with particular attention to lateralization of mating displays. We investigated the presence of population-level behavioral asymmetries during H. dentatus sexual interactions and their influence on male mating success. Two lateralized traits were found: left or right-biased male approaches to the female and left or right-biased male turning displays. Males approaching females from their left side were mainly right-biased in the 180° turning display, and males that approached females from their right side were mainly left-biased. Right-biased males by turning 180° to carry out end-to-end genital contact, performed a lower number of copulation attempts, thus starting copula earlier than left-biased males. Mating success was higher when males approached the left side of females during sexual interactions. A higher number of successful mating interactions was observed in right-biased males when turning 180°. Our results add useful knowledge on the reproductive behavior of H. dentatus in the field, with potential applications for identifying useful benchmarks to monitor the quality of individuals mass-reared for pest control purposes over time.

Lateralized Movements during the Mating Behavior, Which Are Associated with Sex and Sexual Experience, Increase the Mating Success in Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

“…Our results are consistent with previous findings on mating behavioral asymmetries in other insects, including stored-product beetle pests, where males display left-side ap-proaches and the mounting of potential mates, resulting in higher mating success than right-side approaches [8,9,13,32,33]. However, these lateralized behaviors can be modified by context-dependent factors, resulting, for instance, in right-side copulation approaches [6,7,10,12,16].…”

Extra food provisioning does not affect behavioral lateralization in nestling lesser kestrels

“…So far, the majority of studies on the effect of environmental factors on the development of behavioral lateralization have been carried out in a laboratory setting ( Güntürkün and Ocklenburg 2017 ; Ocklenburg et al 2021 ). However, a focus on the lateralization of spontaneous behaviors in wild animal populations (e.g., Blumstein et al 2018 ; Karenina et al 2018 ; Romano et al 2022 ) is needed to understand what ecological factors drive variation in the direction and strength of lateralization. Hence, there has recently been a call for studies manipulating environmental conditions in the wild to shed light on the plasticity of lateralization in response to ecological demands ( Manns 2021 ).…”