Abstract
Field observations indicate that white grub beetles Dasylepida ishigakiensis Niijima et Kinoshita (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) pupate approximately 40 cm underground and then emerge from the soil surface as adults. Although the factors influencing adult emergence from the soil have been studied, the migration of adults from belowground to the surface has never been characterized. In this study, the vertical movement of virgin adults from natural eclosion depths to their emergence from the soil surface was investigated. Virgin adults were introduced at a depth of 40 cm from the soil surface in wooden-framed glass cases, and the vertical position of each individual was checked every day. Both females and males emerged near the soil surface at approximately day 50 after they were transferred from 24 °C to 18 °C conditions. The maturity of the ovaries in unemerged and emerged females was also observed by magnetic resonance imaging. All females that had emerged from the soil possessed developed oocytes, and most possessed mature eggs. The cross-sectional area of eggs was determined in magnetic resonance images and compared between unemerged and emerged females, and the egg areas of emerged females were significantly larger than those of unemerged females. Our results indicate that the timing of female emergence from soil corresponded to ovary maturity in this species.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by research and development projects aimed at promoting new policies for agriculture, forestry and fisheries. We thank Hiroaki Oroku of the Miyakojima Branch of OPARC for his kind support of this project, and Dr. Seiji Tanaka of NIAS for stimulating discussion and comments. The authors would also like to thank Atsushi Nagayama of OPARC for his cooperation in providing sugarcane stems as larval food and for stimulating discussions. Thanks are also due to Ayako Yamaguchi of the Okinawa Prefectural Plant Protection Center, Miyako Branch Office, for her cooperation during larvae collection. Ikuko Hashimoto helped us to perform the experiments and rear the insects at NIAS.
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N. Fujiwara-Tsujii and H. Yasui contributed equally to this article.
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Fujiwara-Tsujii, N., Yasui, H., Sekiyama, Y. et al. Observations of the migration of adult Dasylepida ishigakiensis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from belowground to the soil surface and their reproductive status by MRI. Appl Entomol Zool 48, 233–239 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-013-0177-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-013-0177-3