Influence of methoprene and dietary protein on maturation and sexual performance of sterile Anastrepha ludens (Diptera:Tephritidae)

Males of polyphagous fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae), such as several pestiferous Anastrepha spp., emit chemical, acoustic and visual sexual signals and often aggregate in leks to attract females (Prokopy 1980; Burk 1981; Sivinski and Burk 1989). Receptive females arrive at these aggregations to choose mates, and the variance in male reproductive success is typically high, i.e. a relatively small proportion of the males obtain the majority of copulations (Shelly and Whittier 1997; Field et al. 2002). Differences in sexual signal performance and activity play a role in generating this variance. Because the success of the sterile insect technique (SIT) requires males that can compete in these leks and be identified by females as