Lifetime Mating Potential and Reproductive Success in Males of the True Armyworm, Pseudaletia Unipuncta (Haw.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

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Abstract
This study was undertaken to determine the relationship between lifetime mating potential and reproductive success per mating for males of the true armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.). At 25.degree.C, 16L:8D, males given access to a different virgin female every night of their lives mated from one to 11 times. Most males mated for the first time 3 days after emergence. Some males mated repeatedly, but never generated offspring, while others were unable to detach themselves from females after the second or subsequent mating. Age at first mating was not correlated with reproductive success (number of offspring generated) on the first mating, with number of matings per life, or with lifetime reproductive success. Male reproductive success per mating remained relatively constant from the first to the sixth mating, after which it declined. Fecundity of once-mated females was not affected by the number of times a male had previously mated. The number of eggs generated per male lifetime (i.e. summed fecundities of once-mated females) increased as a linear function of total male matings, while male lifetime reproductive success (i.e. summed offspring production of once-mated females) increased in a curvilinear fashion. Length of the collum (chitinous tube) of the spermatophore did not change with successive matings and, although width decreased, only 7% of the variance in width could be explained by number of previous matings. Virgin males lived significantly longer than mated males.

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