Mate selection behaviour in mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori

Abstract

The intersexual selection (female choice) is a widely observed phenomenon between mating partners in animal kingdom. Further, minority male mating advantage is a phenomenon, whereby genetic variability can be maintained in a population without genetic load at equilibrium. Though such type of mating is observed in almost all species of Drosophila, no such reports are available in lepidopteran insects. So, in order to detect the rare—male effect in silkworm Bombyx mori, present investigations were carried cut to study the mating success of Kalimpong-A and NB1S races of silkworm B. mori. In all the experiments, female choice was employed. Experiments were conducted at nine different ratios. The results show that though both types of males are equally successful in mating when present in equal ratio, they are more successful in mating, when they are in minority. This advantage disappears when males become common. Thus, the present results provide evidence for the existence of minority male mating advantage in silkworms P. mori.