Sex Pheromones of Noctuid Moths.1 XV. Timing of Development of Pheromone-Responsiveness and Other Indicators of Reproductive Age in Males of Eight Species3

Abstract

Three indicators of reproductive maturity—sperm storage, sex pheromone responsiveness, and mating—were examined for males of the following 8 species of the family Noctuidae: subfamily Plusiinae; Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), Autographa californica (Speyer), Pseudoplusia includens (Walker), and Rachiplusia ou (Guenée) ; subfamily Amphipyrinae; Prodenia ornithogalli Guenée and Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) ; subfamily Heliothinae; Heliothis zea (Boddie) and H. virescens (F.). On an average, for the 8 species, movement of sperm bundles from the testes into the ductus ejaculatorius duplex occurred about 1.3 days before the systems for pheromone responsiveness or mating had matured. The 2 last-mentioned systems matured about the same time. In 5 of the species, more than ⅔ of the males contained sperm in the ductus ejaculatorius duplex at the time of emergence from the pupa.