Egg Production and Oviposition in the Tobacco Budworm1: Effect of Age at Mating2

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Abstract
Female tobacco budworms, Heliothis virescens (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), that emerged in the laboratory contained no mature eggs, although oöcyte development had proceeded as far as yolk deposition in the ultimate egg of each ovariole. After 18 h, ca. one mature egg per ovariole was present. If the females subsequently remained unmated, maturation of additional eggs was curvilinear with age and leveled off at ca. 500 eggs per ♀ at 120 h. If the females mated, there was an inverse relationship between egg production and age mated; maximal production occurred when females mated the first night postemergence (ca. 30 h), and production then diminished until females mating at 5 days or more laid only slightly more eggs than virgin females. However, there was also a direct relationship between length of life and age of mating. Females that mated at 1 or 2 days showed a significant correlation between numbers of eggs produced and longevity and between numbers of eggs and pupal weight. Virgin females and females that mated at 3 days showed a significant correlation between eggs and longevity but not between eggs and pupal weight. There was no significant correlation between eggs and pupal weight or longevity for females that mated at 5 days or later.

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