Reproductive Isolation between Two Sympatric Species of Oncopeltus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in the Tropics

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Abstract
Interspecific mating between two species of tropical milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus cingulifer Stål and O. unifasciatellus Slater, is of common occurrence in the field. However, only 0.1% of the eggs from interspecific laboratory crosses were fertile. The average duration of conspecific copulation was more than three times longer than for interspecific copulations. Since sperm transfer is slow in O. fasciatus Dallas, a closely related species, the combination of brief interspecific copulation and slow sperm transfer may result in observed infertility between O. cingulifer and O. unifasciatellus. It is suggested that interspecific matings in the field can function to maintain maximal egg production after a female mates with a conspecific.

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