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First published online March 2, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 964-970 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02726
Male sex pheromone release and female mate choice in a butterfly
1 KTH, School of Chemistry and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Organic
Chemistry, Ecological Chemistry Group, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
2 Stockholm University, Department of Zoology, SE-106 91 Stockholm,
Sweden
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: akbk{at}kth.se)
Accepted 10 January 2007
| Summary |
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Key words: terpenes, geranial, neral, androconia, Pieridae, courtship, aphrodisiacs, species specificity
| Introduction |
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Because scent scales appear largely confined to the male sex, it seems
reasonable to assume that male scent plays a role during courtship, and
observations on the behavioral idiosyncracies of courtship in different
species reveal that males actively use their scent-disseminating devices when
courting a female. In the grayling butterfly, Hipparchia semele, the
male sex brand is located on the dorsal surface of the forewings, and
Tinbergen et al. described how the male courtship culminates in a `bow' during
which he captures the female's antennae between his forewings, whereby they
are brought into direct physical contact with the male scent-producing organ
(Tinbergen et al., 1942
).
Likewise, in the queen butterfly, Danaus gilippus berenice, Brower et
al. described how the male performs a courtship flight just above the female
during which he everts his hairpencils and douses the female with love dust
from above (Brower et al.,
1965
). In the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, Pliske
described how, in a similar manner, male monarchs first pursue females in the
air, then proceed with aerial `hairpencilling' before performing an aerial
takedown just prior to copulation (Pliske,
1974
).
In the green-veined white butterfly, Pieris napi, males emit a
strong scent of citral [a mixture of neral
(2Z)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal) and geranial
(2E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal]
(Bergström and Lundgren,
1973
). This scent is emitted when males are interacting in flight
with conspecific males (Andersson et al.,
2000
), but it is not known whether males emit citral also when
interacting with conspecific females. Therefore, our first objective was to
test during which interactions males release citral, by staging interactions
with conspecific males, virgin or mated conspecific females, and with
heterospecific butterflies. Moreover, it is not known whether males are able
to turn the release on or off, and therefore we carefully assessed the time
that males spent in flight when recording male release of citral.
If male P. napi emit citral when courting females, this suggests
that it might function as a male sex pheromone. In P. napi, as in
other pierids such as Pieris rapae, Pieris brassicae and
Anthocharis cardamines, unreceptive females react to male courtship
by spreading their wings laterally and lifting their abdomen up in the air,
performing the so-called `mate-refusal posture'
(Obara, 1964
;
Wiklund and Forsberg, 1985
;
Forsberg and Wiklund, 1989
).
This female behavior appears to have two functions. First, it makes it
physically difficult for a courting male to couple with the female. Second,
females use this posture to disseminate volatiles that can be perceived easily
by the courting male; in many pierids males appear capable of distinguishing
between virgin and mated females, and in P. napi, P. rapae and P.
brassicae different volatiles are disseminated by virgin and mated
females when exhibiting the mate-refusal posture
(Andersson et al., 2000
;
Andersson et al., 2003
). Both
virgin and mated females initially exhibit the mate-refusal posture when
approached by a male, but when a female accepts a courting male she signals
her receptivity by closing her wings and acquiescing
(Forsberg and Wiklund, 1989
).
When perceiving this signal the courting male alights next to the female,
bends his abdomen sideways to make genital contact, couples with the female,
and usually carries the female away in a short post-nuptial flight.
Our second objective was to compare the sensitivity of female and male antennal responses to citral to see whether females were more sensitive, which would suggest that citral increases sexual receptivity in females. Thus, we tested the antennal response of females to biologically relevant concentrations of citral by electroantennography (EAG).
Our third objective was to assess whether the male-produced volatile citral functions as a male sex pheromone. We tested this hypothesis by subjecting virgin females to artificial courtship by a male model to which citral had been applied, and assessed whether females as a response exhibited male acceptance behavior or not. As a control, we subjected females to artificial courtship with an odorless male model.
| Materials and methods |
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To compare the amount of citral released by males with the amount released by the male models used in the bioassays, we dissolved citral in hexane (v/v) at five concentrations (104, 105, 106, 107 and 108). Each solution (100 µl) was applied on filter papers with a diameter of 1.6 cm that were fixed to a pipette tip, and placed in an identical glass cylinder as described above. Volatiles were collected using SPME during 1 h. We used the polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene fibers (65 µm) (Supelco, Stockholm, Sweden). The SPME fibers were cleaned before each sampling by heating in the gas chromatograph injector (at 250°C for 10 min), using He as gas flow, and the background was measured by one gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) run before starting the collection of volatiles. A Varian 3400 gas chromatograph connected to a Finnigan SSQ 7000 MS (70eV) was used for the analyses. A DB-1 column (0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 µm film thickness, 30 m length; J&W Scientific, Folsom, CA, USA) was programmed at 40°C for 1 min then increased to 220°C for 12 min (5°C min1), with an injector temperature at 215°C (splitless injection, 45 s) and He as the carrier gas at 69 kPa. Compounds were identified by comparing retention times and mass spectra with reference samples.
Electrophysiological recordings
We performed an EAG experiment to assess whether there was a difference
between male and female antennae with respect to their sensitivity to citral.
Each insect was placed in a Plexiglass holder so that only the head with the
antennae was exposed. The animal was strapped to the holder with tape and the
head was immobilized with wax. One antenna was fastened to the wax with hooks
of wolfram thread and immobilized with wax along the edges, and the other
antenna was totally covered with wax. The glass capillary microelectrodes were
filled with Ringer's solution (150 mmol l1 NaCl, 3 mmol
l1 CaCl2, 3 mmol l1 KCl, 10
mmol l1 Tes buffer, pH 6.9). The recording electrode was
placed into the cut hole in the tip of the antenna and the reference electrode
into the haemolymph of the first or second flagellar segment. The signal was
amplified 1000 times and visualized on an oscilloscope (Yokogawa DL 1200,
Tokyo, Japan) and recorded with the Syntech EAG software (Syntech, Hilversum,
The Netherlands). The compound used for stimulation of the antenna, citral
(neral + geranial, 1:1; Sigma-Aldrich)
95.0% purity by GC, was dissolved
in hexane and first applied on a piece of filter paper (100 µl, diameter 15
mm) in the dilutions (v/v) 101, 102,
103, 104, and 105,
corresponding to 90 µg0.9 ng. The filter paper was placed in a glass
tube (10x150 mm) and placed in the setup so that it was subtended in a
45° angle to the antenna at a distance of 20 mm. Air stream (500 ml
min1) blown through the tube for 0.5 s provided puffs of
stimulus over the antennal preparation.
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Male sex pheromone experiment and behavioral assays
To test female propensity to exhibit mate acceptance or refusal behaviors
when subjected to artificial courtship by male models scented with citral or
no scent, we reared approximately 100 P. napi from offspring of five
wild-caught females from the vicinity of Stockholm. The larvae were reared on
the natural host plant A. petiolata, and when the adult butterflies
emerged they were sexed and transferred to a refrigerated room (8°C).
Females were held for 25 days before the experiment, whereas 10 males
were killed by freezing at 25°C. Wings from the newly killed males
were cut at the base and separated from the body, and the two wing pairs from
each male were extracted by two immersions (each lasting 1 h) in 10 ml diethyl
ether at 20°C. The extracted wings were air dried for 24 h. The extracted
wings were then sampled by SPME for 1 h and analyzed with a gas chromatograph
connected to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS; see analytical methods). Male wings
that were not extracted were also sampled the same way for 1 h. Analysis
showed that wings that had not been extracted released significant amounts of
citral. Wings that had been extracted did not release detectable amounts of
citral, and will heneceforth be referred to as `extracted odorless wings'.
A single female was released into a 0.5 mx0.5 mx0.5 m flight
cage; the cage had a transparent plastic top and was located in a greenhouse.
The experiments were performed at the beginning of October 2002, with an air
temperature ranging between 15 and 20°C. Once the female had alighted on a
wall in the cage, we presented the settled female with a `male model'
consisting of four wings from a male butterfly held together with soft
forceps, as if the male was resting with only the ventral sides of the four
wings visible. This male model was waved in front of the female to simulate
the approach of a courting male, and was then brought into physical contact
with the female, again simulating the manner in which male P. napi
court female conspecifics when alighted in the vegetation
(Forsberg and Wiklund, 1989
).
We used four different types of male models: (1) wings from newly eclosed
males killed in the freezer 30 min prior to the assay, (2) extracted odorless
wings with 10 µl of hexane applied to each of the two outer-wing surfaces,
(3) extracted wings with 10 µl of citral solution (see specification above,
diluted 1:100 in hexane; 90 µg) applied on each of the two outer-wing
surfaces, and (4) extracted wings with 10 µl of citral solution (diluted
1:10 000 in hexane, 0.9 µg) applied on each of the two outer-wing surfaces.
A total of 40 virgin females were subjected to the bioassay, and each female
was subjected to a maximum of 10 artificial courtship bouts by one of the four
male models described above; hence, 10 females were artificially courted by
each of the four male models.
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| Results |
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| Discussion |
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Male and female antennal sensitivity to citral
Electroantennogram tests demonstrated that there was a pronounced sex
difference in sensitivity to citral, with females being much more sensitive.
Moreover, our results indicate a dose response and suggest that the level of
male production of citral could influence mating success. It is relevant to
add that the amount of citral emitted from living males corresponds to that
emitted from between 0.45 and 4.5 µg citral applied to a filter paper,
which, in turn, is intermediate with respect to the amount applied to the two
male models used in the bioassay. However, it is worth observing that in
P. napi, and in other pierids such as Anthocharis
cardamines, the scent-emitting scales on the underside of the male wings
are usually brought into direct contact with the female antennae during the
sexual chase, suggesting that doseresponse curves obtained in
experimental studies in the laboratory are not necessarily relevant for what
is important under natural circumstances. Indeed, when receptive females of
P. napi and A. cardamines are discovered by males when
sitting in the vegetation, their mate acceptance takes longer than when
females are pursued by males in flight prior to alighting in the vegetation
(Forsberg and Wiklund, 1989
;
Wiklund and Forsberg, 1985
).
This shows that male sex pheromones in butterflies are used at close range and
are not used for mate attraction over long distances (cf.
Wyatt, 2003
), and suggests
that male courtship behaviors have been selected to bring scent-emitting
structures into close contact with female olfactory receptors.
Although the male sex pheromone acts over short distances, it is conceivable that pheromone titer influences female mate choice, and so it is interesting to consider to what extent male sex pheromone production and titer varies over a male's lifetime. Biosynthesis of the male sex pheromone may also be relevant, especially if it is dependent on the larval host plant, because P. napi is oligophagous on several different species of Brassicaceae. Hence, further research should address the issue as to what extent larval host plant, male age and sex pheromone production and titer influence female mate choice.
Citral as a male sex pheromone
Experiments with male models showed that citral rendered females more prone
to adopt mate-acceptance behavior, and hence functions as a male sex
pheromone. In moths, sex pheromones are released by females and male mate
location is largely governed by chemical cues. By contrast, mate location in
butterflies is largely mediated by visual cues, and several studies have
demonstrated color-based mate choice
(Stride, 1958
;
Silberglied and Taylor, 1978
;
Fordyce et al., 2002
;
Ellers and Boggs, 2003
;
Sweeney et al., 2003
;
Robertson and Monteiro, 2005
).
However, there is accumulating evidence that these visual stimuli are
accompanied by chemical signals that are important at close range
(Rutowski, 1984
;
Silberglied, 1984
;
Pivnick et al., 1992
;
Schulz et al., 1993
;
Jiggins et al., 2001
;
Fordyce et al., 2002
;
Wiklund, 2003
;
Costanzo and Monteiro, 2007
).
Behavioral experiments have demonstrated that male wing scents function as a
sex pheromone in several pierid butterfly species, including Colias
eurytheme and C. philodice
(Taylor, 1973
;
Silberglied and Taylor, 1978
;
Grula et al., 1980
;
Rutowski, 1980
), Eurema
lisa (Rutowski, 1977
) and
Pieris melete (Kan and Hidaka,
1997
), as well as in two lycaenid butterflies, Lycaeides
argyrognomon (Lundgren and
Bergström, 1975
) and Zizeeria maha argia
(Wago, 1978
). In L.
argyrognomon the wing odor functions as a sex pheromone for receptive
females. The main male wing odor has been identified as the sesquiterpene
alcohol ()-
-cadinol (torreyol)
(Lundgren and Bergström,
1975
) but has not yet been tested as a sex pheromone. In Z.
maha argia the chemical identity of the active component of the male
scent has not yet been identified. In the satyrine butterfly Bicyclus
anynana, recent research has demonstrated that both visual cues in the
ultraviolet (UV)-range and olfactory cues have a strong influence on female
mate choice (Robertson and Monteiro,
2005
; Costanzo and Monteiro,
2007
).
Recent research on pierid butterflies has demonstrated that males emit
scents that are both sex- and species-specific; male P. napi smell
strongly of citral and male P. brassicae emit substantial amounts of
benzyl cyanide (Andersson et al.,
2003
). Our demonstration that female mate acceptance behavior of
P. napi is mediated by citral that is emitted only by conspecific
males is, to our knowledge, the first time an identified chemical substance
has been convincingly shown to function as a male sex pheromone in a pierid
butterfly. Because the male-specific substances present in the three
congeneric Pieris species P. napi, P. rapae and P.
brassicae are also species-specific, it is likely that these substances
also function as species-specific signals. Male butterflies are generally
incapable of forcing matings on females, and so female receptivity is a
necessary prerequisite for mating. Thus, these species- and sex-specific
compounds have a role in both recognition of an appropriate mate and in
inducing receptive behavior in females.
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