Mass‐rearing and sterilisation alter mating behaviour of male Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract The effects of domestication and irradiation on the mating behaviour of males of Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae) were investigated by caging wild, laboratory‐domesticated and sterile (laboratory‐domesticated, gamma‐irradiated) males with wild females. Mating behaviour of mass‐reared males was different from that of wild males, although behaviour of wild and sterile males was similar. Mass‐reared males engaged in mounting of other males much more frequently than wild and sterile males, and began calling significantly earlier before darkness. Unnatural selection pressures imposed in mass‐rearing conditions may explain these changes in mass‐reared male behaviour. Male calling did not appear to be associated with female choice of mating partners, although this does not exclude the possibility that calling is a cue used by females to discriminate among mating partners. Despite differences in behaviour, frequency of successful copulations and mating success were similar among wild, mass‐reared and sterile males.