For some of us, it might have been behind the bikeshed. Not so the African cotton leafworm moth (), which can choose any one of a vast number of plant species to mate on. But these moths remember their first time, returning to the same species in search of other mates.
In the wild, this moth feeds and mates on species from as many as 40 different plant families. That much choice means there鈥檚 usually something available to eat, but selecting and remembering the best plants is tricky.
So, recalling what you ate as a larva, or where you first copulated, may help narrow down which plants provide better quality food or are more likely to attract other potential mates.
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and of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp and their colleagues have discovered that this moth鈥檚 first mating experience shapes its future preferences.
Cotton over cabbage
These moths have an innate preference for cotton plants over cabbage. But when the researchers made them mate for the first time on cabbage, the moths later showed an increased preference for mating or laying eggs on this plant.
Further experiments revealed that moths didn鈥檛 just favour plants they were familiar with, even in combination with a sex pheromone 鈥� mating had to be involved.
鈥淎 familiar environment only does not work 鈥� plant exposure has to be coupled with mating,鈥� says Proffit. 鈥淧erhaps we could see it this way: if something worked well in a particular place, why not visit it again?鈥�
This strategy could be particularly helpful when you have as many host plants as the 鈥減olyphagous鈥� African cotton leafworm moth.
Good food guide
of the University of California, Riverside, likens the moth鈥檚 behaviour to a visit to a city鈥檚 Chinatown district. 鈥淭here are many restaurants, likely they will serve similar food, and most of it will be suitable,鈥� he says. 鈥淗owever, if you have been to one in the past and know it is good, you may choose to return to that one.鈥�
Proffit and Carrasco did not test the effect of subsequent mating experience on a moth鈥檚 future preferences. But they did find the plants they fed on as larvae also affected moths鈥� later choice of host plants. 鈥淥ur results show that a polyphagous insect can integrate information provided by several unrelated experiences,鈥� says Proffit, although she says it may be that only the most recent experiences are relevant.
It鈥檚 possible that returning to the same plants to mate and lay eggs might lead sub-groups of the moth to specialise on different plant hosts and one day diverge into different species, according to of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 鈥淎nything that promotes assortative mating will be a powerful factor in ecological speciation processes,鈥� he says.
Journal reference: Ecology Letters,
