Wing-fanning frequency as a releaser boosting male mating success— High-speed video analysis of courtship behavior in Campoplex capitator, a parasitoid of Lobesia botrana

Campoplex capitator is an ichneumonid parasitoid with a narrow host range,comprising grapevine moth pests.Despite being considered one of the possible candidates for biocontrol of Lobesia botrana,knowledge about its biology is limited and massrearing for commercial purposes is still lacking.This research provides a quantitative analysis of the C.capitator courtship and mating behavior.C.capitator mating sequence was analyzed by high-speed video recordings.Main behavioral parameters,with special reference to male wing fanning and antennal tapping,were quantified and linked with mating success.Furthermore,we analyzed the occurrence of population-level behavioral asymmetries during C capitator sexual interactions and their impact on male success.Results showed that male wing fanning was crucial to successfully approach the female.Males achieving higher mating success performed wing-fanning at higher frequencies over unsuccessful ones.After wing fanning,most of males palpated the females body with their antennae,before attempting copulation.The overall mating success was>70%,with a rather long copula duration(254.76±14.21 s).Male wing-fanning was lateralized on the left at population level,while antennal tapping displays were right-biased.Sidebiased male displays do not differ in terms of frequency and duration of their main features.This research adds basic knowledge to the C.capitator behavioral ecology.Since rearing protocols for C.capitator are being developed male wing fanning frequency may represent a useful benchmark for monitoring mate quality over time,tackling mating success reductions due to prolonged mass-rearing.

Together We Stand-Analyzing Schooling Behavior in Naive Newborn Guppies through Biorobotic Predators

A major advantage of animal aggregations concerns cooperative antipredator strategies.Schooling behavior emerges earlier in many fish species,especially in those cannibalizing their offspring.Experience is fundamental for developing schooling behavior.However,the cognitive ability of naive newborn fish to aggregate remains unclear.Herein,Poecilia reticulata,was selected as model organism to investigate how combinations of biomimetic robotic agents and adult conspecific olfactory cues affect collective responses in newborns.The role of white and brown backgrounds in evoking aggregations was also assessed.Olfactory cues were sufficient for triggering aggregations in P.reticulata newborns,although robotic agents had a higher influence on the group coalescence.The combination of robotic agents and olfactory cues increased schooling behavior duration.Notably,schooling was longer in the escape compartment when robotic agents were presented,except for the combination of the male-mimicking robotic fish plus adult guppy olfactory cues,with longer schooling behavior in the exploring compartment.Regardless of the tested cues,newborn fish aggregated preferentially on the brown areas of the arena.Overall,this research provides novel insights on the early collective cognitive ability of newborn fish,paving the way to the use of biomimetic robots in behavioral ecology experiments,as substitutes for real predators.