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Science 8 October 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4568, pp. 168 - 170
DOI: 10.1126/science.218.4568.168
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Articles

Male Lek Formation and Female Calling in a Population of the Arctiid Moth Estigmene acrea

MARK A. WILLIS 1 and MARTIN C. BIRCH 2

1 Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis 95616
2 Hope Entomological Collections, University Museum, Oxford OX1 3PW United Kingdom

Abdominal coremata in male Estigmene acrea (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) are inflated and displayed in aggregations to which females and males are attracted and where mating occurs (leks). Female E. acrea also release a sex pheromone which attracts males. These two mating behaviors occur in the same populations at different peak times on the same nights. Thus male lek formation and female calling occur in the same species, and the male coremata, or related structures, appear to be integrally associated with lek behavior.

Submitted on March 1, 1982
Revised on June 18, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Sexual Role Reversal in Mate-Finding Strategies of the Cabbage Looper Moth.
P. J. Landolt and R. R. Heath (1990)
Science 249, 1026-1028
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)