Figures 5.4


Posterior ends of a pair of copulating milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae).
Figures 5.4. Posterior ends of a pair of copulating milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae).

Mating commences with the pair facing in the same direction, then the male rotates his eighth abdominal segment (90°) and genital capsule (180°), erects the aedeagus and gains entry to the female’s genital chamber, before he swings around to face in the opposite direction. The bugs may copulate for several hours, during which they walk around with the female leading and the male walking backwards. (a) Lateral view of the terminal segments, showing the valves of the female’s ovipositor in the male genital chamber; (b) longitudinal section showing internal structures of the reproductive system, with the tip of the male’s aedeagus in the fem ale’s spermatheca. (After Bonhag & Wick 1953)

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  Two males of Phytalmia mouldsi (Diptera: Tephritidae) fighting over access to the oviposition site at the larval substrate visited by females.
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  Species-specificity in part of the male genitalia of three sibling species of Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae).