Transaction of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan, Vol. 54 (2003), No. 2, pp. 111-115
1 Department of Biology, International Christian University
2 Laboratory of Ethology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
ABSTRACT. Recently mated male butterflies cannot transfer as large spermatophore as virgin males do, and are much less rewarded by remating since reduced spermatophore decreases paternity. In the present study, we tested a hypothesis that recently mated males should reduce their mating efforts before their spermatophore is replenished in the cabbage butterfly Pieris rapae crucivora Boisduval. The field experiments revealed that males who had mated on average 1.8 days previously searched for females less frequently than virgin males did, although the female-searching frequency of males who had mated on average 2.7, 4.3 and 5.3 days previously was not significantly different from that of virgins. That result indicates that the recently mated males refrain from the costly mate locating behavior, although the previous study reported that males usually mated even the day after copulation under the laboratory condition where mate location is not necessary.