MULTIPLE MATING IN LABORATORY-REARED GYPSY MOTHS (LEPIDOPTERA, LYMANTRIIDAE)

Multiple mating was studied in a laboratory colony of gypsy moths, Lymantria dispar (L.). Males transferred reduced quantities of eupyrene sperm with each mating, and few were able to fully inseminate one female daily for 4 d. Nonetheless, some males could remate and fully inseminate a second female within a few hours, suggesting that not all of the sperm stored in the duplex was transferred during the first mating. Females that had mated with males incapable of full insemination would remate up to 2 d later, and sperm from the second mating was used in fertilization. Fecundity, as measured by egg mass weight, was dependent upon sperm transfer. Females with no sperm or only apyrene sperm laid fewer eggs than females with eupyrene sperm. However, the quantity of eupyrene sperm had little effect on the weight of the egg mass.