Arthro-Pod EP 156: Nuptial Gifts, the Packages of Love

 

Hello lovers of bugs, as well as bugs who are in love! In today's episode, we take a journey through the world of nuptial gifts within the arthropods and find out why sometimes it is best to wrap a gift before trying to go on a date. Tune in to learn the basics of why nuptial gifts exist and how they can help facilitate the mating process and generation of the next generation. This one is a bit "spicy" so if you listen with kids, prepare for some biological talk!

Crickets preparing to mate after the exchange of a nuptial gifts (Photo by Biz Turnell, via https://entomologytoday.org/2020/02/14/nuptial-gifts-romantic-gestures-bug-insect-arthropod-world-valentines-day/)

Show notes

Insect (Order, Family)	Nuptial Gift	Purpose
Dung beetles (O: Coleoptera, F: Scarabaeidae)	Food in the form of a dung ball	https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/21/2/424/323090 Part of courtship display, dung ball is used for food source to help her and the offspring
Fireflies (O: Coleoptera, F: Lampyridae) some species	Spermatophore contains sperm and nutrients	https://now.tufts.edu/2016/12/22/firefly-gift-giving-composition-nuptial-gifts-revealed Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P8vKghAoh8   To obtain nutrients and fertilization occurs this way
Giant water bug (O: Hemiptera, M: Belostomatidae)	Small aquatic animals as prey (fish)	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eth.12416 Part of the courtship ritual, males carry the eggs
Aphids (O: Hemiptera, F: Aphididae)	“mating drop” droplet of nutrient-rich fluid	To obtain nutrients essential for reproduction
Crickets (O: Orthopera, F: Laupala cerasina	Several nuptial gifts before transferring genetic material	https://www.mpg.de/9686444/nuptial-feeding-female-crickets   https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-019-2705-9 Nuptial gifts improve the amount of genetic material successfully transferred from the final spermatophore to the female
Long-tailed dance flies (O: Diptera, F: Rhamphomyia longicauda	Nutrients	https://www.jstor.org/stable/23734479 Females do not hunt so they relay on the nuptial gifts. They fill their abdomens with air to look like their eggs are more mature so males will seek them out
Imported cabbagworm butterflies (O: Lepidoptera, F:	Nitrogen	https://www.thegraphicleader.com/opinion/columnists/the-changing-rules-of-romance-for-the-cabbage-white-butterfly
Scorpion flies (O: Mecoptera, F: Panorpidae)	Dead prey item	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4536380 https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830480-100-heres-my-nuptial-gift-a-dead-planthopper-now-can-we-mate/   To appease the female and increase chances of successful mating

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Arthro-Pod EP 47 How do Insects Mate?

Howdy, howdy bug lovers! Today's episode of Arthro-Pod features Jody and Jonathan covering the risque topic of insect mating! Insects are the most successful animals on earth and their reproduction is part of the reason why. Join us for a PG-13 episode where we discuss insect anatomy, how insects court one another, and how mating probably isn't all that pleasurable to bugs! 

A private moment between two grasshoppers (Photo by Ivy Orellana)

Show Notes

If you want to enjoy National Pollinator Week, check out their site:

http://pollinator.org/pollinator-week

Insect courtship can involve the use of sound. Learn more about insect sounds here:

http://songsofinsects.com/

Ask an Entomologist has discussed some of the same topics on their website and we used them as a resource for this recording. Check out their awesome work here: 

Courtship:

https://askentomologists.com/2018/02/15/insect_courtship/
Insect Sex:

https://askentomologists.com/2016/03/15/insect_coitus/

Here is a male moth's coremata in action. You'll have to listen to learn what it's for!

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

Follow the hosts on Twitter @JLarson_UNL, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36

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This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0