One and Done: Long-Term Sperm Storage in the Cactus-Feeding Bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Allen, Pablo E.; Dale, Adam G.; Diyaljee, Sonia I.; Ector, Naomi; Petit-Bois, Diane; Quinn, Jeffrey T; Ranieri, Adam C; Sanchez, Jaime A.; Smith, Hailee M.; Tran, Dieu X.; Winsor, Alex M.; Miller, Charles H.

doi:10.1093/aesa/say017

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Male N. femorata use their enlarged hindlimbs to signal and fight over access to receptive females (Nolen et al., 2017; Procter et al., 2012). Females mate multiply and produce clutches of eggs throughout their adult lives (Allen et al., 2018; Wilner et al., 2020). The size of the hindlimb scales positively with body size, and males with larger limbs are more likely to win contests (Nolen et al., 2017; Procter et al., 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐offs between weapons and testes do not manifest at high social densities

Miller

Joseph

Emberts

2021

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Social conditions can alter the allocation of resources to reproductive traits. For example, an increase in social density during development is frequently associated with an increase in the testes mass of males. Sperm competition theory assumes that increased investment in testes should come at the expense of investing into precopulatory traits, such as sexually selected weaponry. However, much remains unknown about the role of the social context on the concurrent, relative investment in both testes and weapons. We found that the leaf‐footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae), grew nearly 20% larger testes when raised in high social densities. In addition to manipulating social density, we used autotomy (limb loss) to limit investment in their hindlimb weapon during development. At low densities, we found that those that lost a weapon during development grew larger testes by adulthood, supporting previous work demonstrating a weapons–testes trade‐off. However, at high social densities, males that dropped a hindlimb did not grow larger testes, though testes were already large at this density. These results underscore the importance of the social context to resource allocation patterns within the individual.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐offs between weapons and testes do not manifest at high social densities

Miller

Joseph

Emberts

2021

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…We placed males into deli cups with females in the rearing room for 4 days along with a pine needle as an oviposition substrate. Previous work suggests that 4 days is sufficient time for long-term female fertility [ 37 ]. After the 4-day mating period, we removed the male and checked females daily from this point onward (18 days post adult eclosion) for egg laying and survival.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-quality host plant diets partially rescue female fecundity from a poor early start

2022

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Nutrition is a dynamic environmental factor and compensatory growth may help animals handle seasonal fluctuations in their diets. Yet, how the dynamic changes in nutrition affect female reproduction is understudied. We took advantage of a specialist insect herbivore, Narnia femorata Stål (Hemiptera: Coreidae), that feeds and reproduces on cactus across three seasons. We first examined how cactus quality can affect female reproductive success. Then, we investigated the extent to which reproductive success can be improved by a switch in diet quality at adulthood. We placed N. femorata juveniles onto prickly pear cactus pads with early-season (low-quality) or late-season (high-quality) fruit and tracked survivorship and development time. A subset of the females raised on low-quality diets were provided with an improved adult diet to simulate a seasonal change in diet. Adult female survival and egg production were tracked over time. All fitness-related traits were lower for females fed low-quality diets compared with females fed high-quality diets. However, when females had access to an improved adult diet, egg production was partially rescued. These findings show that a seasonal improvement in diet can enhance reproduction, but juvenile nutrition still has lasting effects that females cannot overcome.

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“…Front femur length was used as comparative metric trait. We used pronotum width as our measurement of body size (Allen et al., 2018; Allen & Miller, 2017, 2020; Miller et al., 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Colonies of Texas and Florida N. femorata were established simultaneously at the University of Florida in a greenhouse (temperature ranged between 24 and 30°C, from September to November) using the adults collected from the field. Insects were haphazardly paired with individuals of their own population and kept in plastic deli containers with a local cactus pad and topsoil (for further details see Allen et al, 2018, Allen & Miller, 2020. These parental pairs were fed the same host cacti fruit with which they co-occur in the New adults were separated from the remaining nymphs in each container and kept as singles or same-sex pairs until they were fully sclerotized with the final adult body dimensions.…”

Section: Rearing and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of a rapid and adaptive response of hemipteran mouthparts to a physical barrier

Allen

Cui

Miller

2021

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Animals have encountered novel foods at points throughout history, due to factors such as range expansions and niche shifts driven by competition. One of the first challenges presented by novel foods is how to eat them. Mouthpart morphology is thus critical during the process of host shifts. Developmental plasticity in mouthparts is one potential mechanism that may allow animals to tolerate new foods and eventually to thrive upon them. Here, we investigated the extent to which insect mouthparts from two geographically distant populations can converge in morphology when feeding on common resources. We conducted a common garden/reciprocal transplant experiment using two populations of the cactus bug, Narnia femorata, that differ in mouthpart length. This insect uses straw‐like mouthparts (hereafter ‘beak’) to get through the cactus fruit wall to reach the pulp inside. Our experimental results revealed clear developmental plasticity in beak length. Insects from both populations grew longer beaks when they fed on the cactus fruit with the thicker walls, and they grew shorter beaks when they fed on the cactus fruit with the thinner walls. Thus, insects from distant populations exhibited immediate developmental responses to a new food, and in the predicted directions. These results suggest that some fauna may be able to respond more rapidly than predicted when they encounter novel plants.

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One and Done: Long-Term Sperm Storage in the Cactus-Feeding Bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Cited by 7 publications

References 66 publications

Trade‐offs between weapons and testes do not manifest at high social densities

Trade‐offs between weapons and testes do not manifest at high social densities

High-quality host plant diets partially rescue female fecundity from a poor early start

Evidence of a rapid and adaptive response of hemipteran mouthparts to a physical barrier

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