• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2005

Mating is an essential behavioural social event in the life cycle of silkworm, Bombyx mori (L.) for the perpetuation of population. A number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors and events of significant importance are involved in successful mating and egg deposition by an adult silk moth which besides biochemical, physiological and environmental factors also includes attraction of reproductively competent male and female moth for mating, duration and frequency of mating, age of moth at the time of mating, reuse of male moth in the production of eggs etc. An attempt has been made in this review article to elucidate briefly the behaviour of male towards female moth after eclosion, impact of duration and frequency of mating on egg deposition and oviposition, reuse of mated male moth in the production of quality and quantity eggs etc. in the silk-worm, B. mori and its significance in silkworm seed production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.463-469
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• 2005

An attempt was made to analyze the factors affecting mating performance of rams in pen mating systems. Due to many types of social interactions, mating performance of rams may decrease or increase. Six intact Muzaffarnagari rams were used and divided into three dominant subordinate pairs by food and ewe competition test. For dominant rams subordinate ram became competitor and vice versa. In the first experiment, ram was exposed to ewe but the competitor ram was kept outside the pen with the facility of visibility only. In the second experiment each ram was exposed to ewe along with the competitor ram and in third experiment ram was exposed to ewes (two) along with competitor ram in observation pen. Recordings of different mating and agonistic behaviour were done in all the experiments. It was found that subordinate ram's mating behaviour was inhibited by mere presence of a dominant ram out side without physical contact. However, when ram exposed to oestrus ewe(s) along with competitor ram, both dominant and subordinate rams spent much of their time in guarding activities instead of mating. In addition dominant ram tried to curtail the subordinate ram mating by agonistic interaction like fight and butting. Different guarding activities were observed either as active or passive type depending on level of dominanace. It was concluded that in a limited space the interaction of two or more rams might affect the number of services adversely.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.112-118
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• 2007

The present study was conducted to investigate the attributes of ram sexual behaviour under different social conditions. Six intact rams and eight overiectomized ewes were used in this experiment. Ewes were artificially brought into oestrus. All mating traits were recorded every 10 sec during a 1 h mating session under five social conditions viz., ram exposed to single oestrus ewe, ram exposed to single oestrus ewe and audience ram, ram exposed to multiple oestrus ewes, ram exposed to single oestrus ewe with competitor ram and ram exposed to multiple oestrus ewes with competitor ram. Mean intensity of the mating activities during the 1 h mating session under five social conditions was compared. Either vocalization or leg kicking was found to be the predominant teasing activity under all five conditions. Sniffing differed significantly (p<0.05) between different social conditions. Vocalization, leg kicking, and leg kicking with vocalization did not differ significantly (p<0.05) between different social conditions. Mounts/h in the multiple oestrus ewe condition was higher and differed significantly (p<0.05) from other social conditions. Ejaculations/h for the experimental ram was higher when exposed to multiple oestrus ewes in comparison to other social conditions. Mounts/ejaculation was low in the audience ram condition in comparison to the other four social conditions.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2008

Mating behaviour of the gammarid amphipod, Hyale rubra, was observed. H. rubra displayed precopulatory mate guarding: males clasped females with their gnathopods during copulation, forming a pair. Males also participated in embryo care during the incubation period. The population was small, and the sex ratio was almost equal. Energy allocation for mating effort and parental effort in the two sexes appear to be almost equal. The mating system was sequentially polygamous (or promiscuous) and there was conspicuous sexual dimorphism in the size of the gnathopod, which was used for mate guarding. However, there appears to be relatively weak sexual competition for mating opportunities despite conspicuous sexual dimorphism. H. rubra did not display territorial competition or external fertilization. Nevertheless, the male provided paternal care. Since H. rubra inhabit tide pools and live on algae, the polygamous mating system of the species can be explained by the polygyny threshold model. The evolution of mate guarding and parental care may have been favored by the species' low population density and harsh environments, an interpretation consistent with the optimality model.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2003

Oviposition and egg laying is an important physiological and behavioural event in the life cycle of the silkworm, Bombyx mori (L). Oviposition and egg laying is dependent on a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors viz., neural, hormonal, environmental, physical, behavioral etc for the perpetuation of population. Although, the virgin female moths have fully developed embryos but active egg laying begins under the influence of mating which provides essential copulation stimulus for oviposition. After mating drastic biochemical changes occurred that incites egg laying under the influence of optimum environmental conditions. Weight of pupae as well as larval density has significant role on oviposition and egg laying behaviour in the silkworm wherein high pupal weight and inadequate rearing space affects not only the biology, morphology and physiology but also the oviposition and egg laying. Surface topography, plane of inclination, mating length, age of male moth, temperature and photoperiod etc has significant effect on reproductive physiology of silkworm. An attempt has been made in this review article to elucidate briefly the works carried out on mating behaviour, direct and indirect copulation stimulus, vitellogenesis, influence of environmental factors besides effect of weight of pupae and or pharate adult and larval density on oviposition and egg laying behavior in the silkworm, B. mori and its significance in silkworm seed production.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2007

Tropical tasar silkmoth Antheraea mylilta D. is an economically important insect. The wild nature and above all unsynchronized emergence of moths lead to impairment in reproductive activity. The mating in moths is low (64%-70%), leaving about 30-36% of potential females unused for seed (= egg) production. Delay in mating adversely affects the reproductive performance such as mating behaviour, fecundity and fertility. Females are more severely affected by mating delay than males. Therefore, a study was under taken to develop a method to overcome the problem so that the production of layings can be increased to meet the ever increasing demand. It was revealed from the study that out of 16 possible age combinations (from the age groups of day 0 to day 3), female and male of day 0 (4-8 hours old) excel in their reproductive performance than others (with 94.4% mating success, 284 fecundity and 91.5% hatching). Reproductive performance declined significantly even if one of the parents was older. When either of the mating pair was 1 day old, the mating declined by 28%; fecundity by 32.8%; and hatching by 40.8%. The insemination of eupyrene sperm was declined by 35.2% when both the parents are 1 day old. Mating duration of 8 hours resulted in insemination of $8.3{\times}10^5$ eupyrene sperms, which was declined by 31.6%, 48% and 55% upon lowering of mating duration to 6 hr, 4 hr and 2 hr were maintained respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2015

Gametogenesis, mating behaviour and spawning of Octopus ocellatus were investigated by histological study. This species is dioecious, and showed a protandry phenomenon. Ooogenesis (in females) and spermatogenesis (in males) can be classified into 3 stages, respectively. O. ocellatus copulates in one of two ways: a male may leap upon a female, mounting her mantle, or a male may sit near the female and extend the hectocotylized third right arm toward her. Spawning occurred between April and June in females, and between March and May in males of O. ocellatus. The spawning period was once a year and the peak took place between May and June. A number of flatened follicle cells, which were attached to an oocyte, were involved in vitellogenesis in the cytoplasm of the vitellogenic oocyte (maturing oocyte), and formation of chorion membrane (secondary egg membrane) of the ovarian eggs. Fecundity per female closely related to GSI was 294-660 eggs (average, 429 eggs). The diameters of the ovarian eggs surrounded by chorion membrane were approximately in the range of 10.10-2.50 mm. Each ovarian egg laid by a female was connected to an egg string. Each egg string was 1-5.5 cm (average 3.6 cm). The total number of eggs laid by a female of this species ranged 218-314, the egg sizes were independent to the size of female adult. this species has a life mode showing some special reproductive characteristics of an annual semelparity as shown in Octopodidae species because we have never seen a female spawning a second time.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2007

Cantharidin is produced by blister beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and smaller oedemerid beetles (Coleopetra: Oedemeridae) and is found in hemolymph and various tissues. The function of cantharidin in the courtship behaviour of meloids had never been fully established. Our studies show a correlation between density of cuticular pores and cantharidin titre of the scape and pedicel segments of male specimens of the East African species of Epicauta nyassensis (Haag-Rutenberg, 1880) (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Light microscopy of semi-thin cross sections of the male scape and pedicel indicates that there are many canal shaped structures that stretch from the antennal hemolymph to the antennomere surface. These structures may be tubules, which transport cantharidin circulating in the hemolymph to the surface, where the compound can be released via cuticular pore openings. Analyses of the head capsule and antennal segments of E. nyassensis females which had been copulated with males revealed low titre of cantharidin in the first two antennal segments. The density of the scape and pedicel pores of females was to some extent higher than the density of these pores on flagellum; however it was considerably lower than that of the males. Interestingly, no tubular cell or other transport structures were found in the cross sectioning of the female antennomeres or on the integument surface. During mating, male antennomeres, as well as cantharidin containing pores which are located on the $1^{st}\;and\;2^{nd}$ antennomeres, come into direct contact with the female antennae and may release cantharidin to their surface. Female E. nyassensis may be able to discriminate the opposite sex with abundant reserves of cantharidin prior to mating. This is another evidence that cantharidin function in close range sexual selection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.707-712
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• 2011

The objective of the present study was to determine gender-related and month-related behavioral differences in captive alpine musk deer. The study was conducted at Xinglongshan Musk Deer Farm (XMDF) of Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province of western China. The integrated method of focal sampling and all occurrence recording was utilized to quantify the behavioural patterns of 45 captive alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus) during non-mating season (from August $1^{st}$ to October $25^{th}$), and the behavioural durations of 12 behavioural patterns such as standing-gazing were recorded. The behavioural modes were compared to explore the potential differences between females and males, and the monthly behavioural modes for males and females were analyzed. Our results showed that the captive female deer in XMDF could compensate the energy lost in pregnancy, parturition and lactation through improving its ingestive efficiency. In order to be more sensitive to the changing environment, females expressed more standing-gazing (SG: $67.38{\pm}12.69\;s$) and moving (MO; $27.41{\pm}5.02\;s$), but less bedding (BE: $42.32{\pm}11.35\;s$) than male deer (SG: $56.43{\pm}9.19\;s$; MO: $19.23{\pm}4.64\;s$; BE: $96.14{\pm}15.71\;s$). Furthermore, females perform more affinitive interaction (AI: $7.89{\pm}4.81\;s$) but less ano-genital sniffing (AS: $0.24{\pm}0.13\;s$) and agonistic behaviour (CI: $0.57{\pm}0.26\;s$) than males (AI: $1.45{\pm}1.09\;s$; AS: $0.45{\pm}0.29\;s$; CI: $1.42{\pm}0.67\;s$). The females expressed ingestion more in October ($132.31{\pm}27.47\;s$) than in August ($28.80{\pm}18.44\;s$) and September ($45.1{\pm}10.84\;s$), and the males performed Ano-genital sniffing (AS: $1.79{\pm}1.14\;s$) and self-directed behaviour (SD: $12.61{\pm}5.03\;s$) significantly more in October than in August (AS: 0 s; SD: $0.62{\pm}0.17\;s$) and September (AS: $0.02{\pm}0.01\;s$; SD: $0.17{\pm}0.15\;s$). Moreover, male musk deer increased the intension of ano-genital sniffing, agonistic behaviour and tail rubbing behaviour, which were related to sexual activities.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 1996

A new composite antibiotic, SM-101(sulbactam·metampicillin), was at dose levels of 0, 375, 750 and 1500 mg/kg/day administered intravenously to pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats during the organogenetic period. Two-third of dams per group were subjected to caesarean section on day 20 of pregnancy and the remaining 10 dams per group were allowed to deliver. Effects of test substance on dams, embryonal development of F1 fetuses, as well as growth, behaviour and mating performance of F1 offspring were examined. In dams, two deaths occurred at 375 and 1500 mg/kg, respectively. The decrease in the weight of adrenal glands of the 1500 mg/kg group was observed. The prolongation of pregnancy period was found at 1500 mg/kg. F1 fetuses showed no changes related to the treatment of SM-101. In F1 offspring, the increase in spleen weight was seen at all doses treated. No treatment-related abnormalities were observed in each treated group in terms of development, behaviour and reproductive performance. In F2 fetuses, no drug-induced abnormalities occurred at all doses. The results show that the no-effect dose levels (NOELS) for dams and Fl offspring are under 375 mg/kg/day and NOELs for F1/F2 fetuses are over 1500 mg/kg/day.