Inter-racial mating of a non-diapausing and a diapausing race of Teleogryllus commodus (Walk.) (Orthoptera : Gryllidae)

Abstract

In relation to a proposed genetic approach to the control of the field cricket, an experiment was conducted in which females of a diapausing race of Teleogryllus commodus were held in laboratory cultures with males of the same race and those of a non-diapausing race. Competitive conditions were created by the presence of a surplus of total males and, for each race, by varied ratios of the males of the two races. Inter-racial mating occurred between the non-diapausing race of males and the diapausing race of females even when a high ratio of the diapausing race of males was present, but nevertheless some evidence of intra-racial preference was demonstrated. In a further experiment to determine whether this was due to stridulation, the males were prevented from stridulating by clipping their tegmina. In this experiment there was no evidence of intra-racial preference.