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Mating Behavior Of The Giant Waterbug Belostoma Flumineum Say, Janet E. Ruppert

Masters Theses

Sexual selection theory predicts that in the few species where males make a larger parental investment than females and limit female reproduction, females should court and compete for males (i.e. we should observe "sex-role reversal"--Trivers, 1972). These predictions were tested in the laboratory with the giant waterbug Belostoma flumineum Say (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) . Males of this species characteristically carry and brood eggs on their dorsa, thus making a substantial parental investment.

The courtship sequence in "one male:one female" pairings began with the male "pumping" (rapidly raising and lowering his abdomen at the water's surface). This presumably attracted the female, …