Effect of Parental Age and Mating Status on Reproductive Performance of Orius laevigatus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The successful function of biological control agents (BCAs) in a crop heavily depends on their reproductive potential, and it all begins at the mating. Reproductive potential is crucial for both the mass-rearing and field performance of natural enemies. The present study aimed to evaluate how many consecutive females of Orius laevigatus a male can mate and the effect on female’s reproductive performance. In addition, we wanted to see the effect of the age of the male and female at mating. In the multiple mating experiment, the males of O. laevigatus showed a high capacity to fertilize females successively, not reducing the fecundity until the sixth mated female. Therefore, the proportion of males in mass rearing could be reduced. In the delayed mating experiment, copulation duration and fecundity increased with the age of the male but decreased with the age of the female. In contrast, fertility (percentage of egg hatching) followed a pattern contrary to fecundity, increasing with female age but decreasing with male age, although it did not counterbalance the advantage granted by higher fecundity. In conclusion, reproductive capacity is increased with very young females and with males a few days old. ABSTRACT: The reproductive potential of biological control agents (BCAs) is crucial for efficient mass-rearing and field performance, and it all begins with mating. Fecundity can be strongly influenced by intrinsic conditions, such as female age and, often neglected, male age and mating status. However, little is known about the impact of parental status at mating on female reproductive outcomes in BCAs. Orius laevigatus (Fieber) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is widely used to control thrips in protected crops. We evaluated how many consecutive females a male could successfully mate and the effect on a female’s reproductive output. In addition, we studied the effects of male and female age on mating. In the multiple mating experiment, the males showed a high capacity to fertilize females successively, not reducing fecundity until the sixth mated female. In the delayed mating experiment, copulation duration and fecundity increased with male age but decreased with female age. In contrast, fertility followed an opposite pattern, increasing with female age but decreasing with male age. However, fecundity gains outweighed fertility declines in both sexes. Therefore, reproductive capacity is increased when mating newly emerged females with males a few days old. The implications of our results for mass rearing and field performance are discussed.