Effects of size and color of female models for male mate orientation in the white-spotted longicorn beetle Anoplophora malasiaca (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of visual stimuli, mainly of size and color, on male mate orientation in Anoplophora malasiaca by experimenting with oval-shaped glass-rod models treated with female elytra extract. The number of males orientating to black glass-rod models corresponded to model size with larger model preferred. When same sizes of models of six different colors were compared, orientation frequencies significantly correlated to the lightness of the colors. Darker colors were preferred. This was also confirmed in male orientation to a series of gray-tone glass-rod models with different lightness. Thus, male orientation was influenced by both size and color of models that serve as visual stimuli.