[Syrphidae] Re: Question on males

[Jeroen van Steenis]

Dear All

There is research on finding larval host plants infested with aphids in
Episyrphus balteatus see:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24024700_What_makes_Episyrphus_balteatus_Diptera_Syrphidae_oviposit_on_aphid_infested_tomato_plants

I do not know if they also used males in their experiments.

Maybe in this paper there are references to it:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270497440_Role_of_E-I-farnesene_in_systematic_aphid_prey_location_by_Episyrphus_balteatus_larvae_Diptera_Syrphidae

Best wishes,

Jeroen



Op ma 14 jan. 2019 om 13:13 schreef Francis Gilbert <
Francis.Gilbert at nottingham.ac.uk>:

> Offhand I don't know of any such paper. Observations like that would be
> hard to distinguish from collecting honeydew for food.
>
>
>
> Females visiting flowers for food are probably non-gravid and so mating
> them makes sense. Females ready to oviposit have probably already been
> mated, and so much depends on whether they are prepared to mate again, and
> if so, what the order of sperm precedence is. I don't know of any work that
> measures sperm precedence in syrphids.
>
>
>
> Francis
>
>
>
> Dr Francis Gilbert, Professor of Ecology
>
> Room B132, Life Sciences Building, School of Life Sciences
>
> University Park, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
>
> Tel: +44 (0) 115 951 3215
>
> website: www.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg
>
>                 *ecology.nottingham.ac.uk
> <http://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk>*
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> *From:* syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *ximo mengual
> sanchis
> *Sent:* 14 January 2019 12:09
> *To:* Hoverfly discussion list <syrphidae at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
> *Subject:* [Syrphidae] Question on males
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> recently a botanist asked me about behavior regarding syrphid males. He
> did read  that some Syrphid males in Europe visit larval host plants with
> aphids, probably to search for females (?).
>
>
>
> Do you know any reference or citation about this male behavior?
>
> Rotheray and Gilbert (2011, pag. 7) mentioned that "some males patrol
> flowers when searching for a mate..." but not that those plants are
> infested with aphids.
>
>
>
> Many thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Ximo
>
>
>
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