Mating behavior of potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella

Key Words： Phthorimaea operculella, mating behaviour, effective mating rate

Abstract：Mating behavior of the potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), was investigated under laboratory conditions (24±2） ℃, L∶D=14∶10, RH （50%—70%). The mating peak of adults from the first to second instar occurred from the 8.0 hour to the end of scotophase, whereas that of adults from the third to the forth instar was from the 6.5 to 8.0　hour after the onset of scotophase. The mating rate of both sexes decreased significantly in successive instars and the effective mating rate decreased significantly when males had mated more than two times. The effective mating frequency of males ranged from 0—6 with an average of 3.8 The number of eggs deposited per female was not significantly increased by increasing the proportion of males in the population and was significantly reduced when the sex ratio (♀∶♂) changed from 1∶1 to 2∶1.