The possibility that ontogenetic color change in some Hemiptera may have evolved as an indication of maturation has not been investigated experimentally. The recognition of maturity is more difficult in hemimetabolous insects where late instars may be similar to adults in size and shape. In holometabolous insects, such as Lepidoptera, maturation is associated with dramatic morphological changes, therefore distinguishing between larvae and adults for mating attempts is not difficult. In diurnal Lepidoptera, adult color pattern plays an important role in the initial phase of mating behavior (Graham et al., 1980). In insects, mating cues are often chemical rather than visual (Jacobson, 1972), but there are some exceptions. In general, dull-colored juveniles avoid predation risk and harassment by breeding males, and sexually mature individuals use bright colors to advertise their readiness to mate (Booth, 1990a). Ontogenetic color change at the time of sexual maturation has been shown to be advantageous to fish (Fricke 1980), reptiles (Werner, 1978), and birds (Lyon and Montgomerie, 1986). The null hypothesis that dorsal color pattern does not significantly affect male mating behavior could not be rejected, therefore the significance of the color change from nymph to adult must be sought elsewhere. Female color patterns were altered and male's copulatory attempts were timed to determine if color pattern was used by males in mating decisions. Males were never observed to mount nymphs. Males mount adults and persist if they have mounted a female and quickly release if they have mounted another male. Adult male mating behavior suggested that the change in color from fifth instars to adults might enable males to discriminate between nymphs and adults. First instars are bright red, second through fifth instars are shiny blue-black, and adults are black with orange markings. Largus californicus individuals undergo two ontogenetic color changes. ![]() Ontogenetic color change at sexual maturation can be useful in identifying an appropriate mate for some organisms. Ontogenetic Color Change and Mating Cues in Largus californicus (Hemiptera: Largidae)Ĭarey Booth Box 123 Biology 102 2 February 1995 Lab instructor: Ned Knight Lab day: Friday (single-spaced to conserve paper yours should be double-spaced to leave room for comments) ![]() Avoid: repeating the abstract repeating background information from the Introduction introducing new evidence or new arguments not found in the Results and Discussion repeating the arguments made in the Results and Discussion failing to address all of the research questions set out in the Introduction.Return to Laboratory report Instruction main page Example of a poorly written lab report.Provide a future perspective on the work.Provide the most general claims that can be supported by the evidence.Emphasize the implications of the findings, explaining how the work is significant and providing the key message(s) the author wishes to convey.Provide a very brief summary of the Results and Discussion.Avoid: presenting results that are never discussed presenting discussion that does not relate to any of the results presenting results and discussion in chronological order rather than logical order ignoring results that do not support the conclusions drawing conclusions from results without logical arguments to back them up. ![]() Discuss possible alternate explanations for the results.Discuss any problems or shortcomings encountered during the course of the work.Typical stages in the discussion: summarizing the results, discussing whether results are expected or unexpected, comparing these results to previous work, interpreting and explaining the results (often by comparison to a theory or model), and hypothesizing about their generality. ![]()
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