Massey Documents by Type

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    The casemoth, Liothula omnivoa (Psychidae : lepidoptera) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Zoology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1967) Ooi, Thean Chooi
    Liothula omnivora, one of the two known casemoths endemic to New Zealand, belongs to the Lepidopteran family Psychidae. It is distributed throughout the country, and can be found on a large number of host plants (see later). The other N.Z. casemoth, Orophora concolor, has been found on Wild Irishman and cassinias in the river beds of the South Island (Miller, 1955). L. omnivora was first described by Fereday in 1878, but Meyrick (1890) transferred it to the genus Oiketicus (Guilding, 1827) mis-spelling it Oeceticus. Dr. Allan Watson (1967, pers. comm.) of the British Museum (Natural History) considers that this species should belong in the genus Liothula and the writer has adopted Watson's view in calling it L. omnivora. The type of L. omnivora is in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch (Entomologische Beihefte 4, Horn and Kahle, 1937). Descriptions of the external morphology of the adult male and female have been made by Fereday (1878), Meyrick (1890) and Hudson (1928). Fereday and Hudson also described the larva, the pupa has been described by Hudson and Quail (1901), and the appearance of the egg briefly noted by Hudson.
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    Systematics and biogeography of the New Zealand sub-family Crambinae (Lepidoptera Pyralidae) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Zoology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 1968) Gaskin, David Edward
    A few New Zealand Crambinae were described by Doubleday (1843), Walker (1863; 1864; 1866), Zeller (1863; 1877), Felder (1875) and Butler (1877). In this early work the same species were often described nearly simultaneously by as many as three authors, leading to much confusion in nomenclature. The first attempts at a systematic presentation of the New Zealand Crambinae. were made by Meyrick (1882 ; 1883; 1885; 1888), who also studied the Australian and Pacific Island Crambinae in the same period (1879; 1882a; 1886; 1897). His New Zealand studies culminated in the first revision of the group (1912a). In his descriptions, and in the revision, he relied almost entirely on the venation, forewing pattern and palpi structure for taxonomic characters. The great majority of the New Zealand Crambinae were grouped by Meyrick into the Palaearctic genus Crambus F. and the neotropical genus Diptychophora Zeller. He also erected an endemic genus Orocrambus (now attributed to Purdie, see later) to include a few alpine species. His type series were almost invariably specimens from the collections of G.V. Hudson in Wellington and R.W. Fereday in Christchurch. The first systematic examination of New Zealand Crambine genitalia was carried out by Philpott (1929), who figured 68 sets of genitalia. In this paper Philpott queried the validity of a few of Meyrick's species, but accepted his generic classification. Unfortunately the value of this paper (which deals with male genitalia only) to present day workers is much reduced by 10 name caption errors in the 68 figures. These are not merely spelling errors; several pairs of species names have become substituted, probably through errors in the original slide labelling. The confusion is compounded by two serious errors in his Crambus key. While basically a very valuable piece of work, Philpott's paper should not be used for Crambine male identification by anyone not fairly familiar with the genera concerned. However it can be used cautiously in conjunction with the very useful colour illustrations in Hudson's volumes (1928; 1939; 1951); as then some of the errors become obvious. During the last decade or so Bleszynski has revised the Palaeartic Crambinae (1965) and revised or begun to revise major genera in the Ethiopean Region (1964), the Old World tropics (1963b) and the Neotropical Region (1960a; 1966; 1967). A review of the world crambine genera and their types (1963a), and a catalogue of the known world species (Bleszynski and Collins, 1962) have also been very valuable contributions making the studies of regional workers, such as the present author, much easier. The overall classification of the Crambinae is still in some confusion. In the present work I have outlined and discussed what I think are the major characters dividing the subfamily above the generic level, and considered the relationships of this subfamily with the Scopariinae and Pyraustinae, an area of study where much more investigation and clarification is needed. All 80 known New Zealand species of Crambinae have been re-examined in the present study, and a preliminary re-examination and revision of 11 endemic Australian species has also been carried out. The latter study, although incomplete, has yielded valuable information concerning origins and relationships of the New Zealand Crambinae while the New Zealand studies have in turn suggested the line that a revision of the large and important Australian genus Hednota should take. My work has been made much easier by Dr. S. Bleszynski who has checked the types of the New Zealand Crambinae held in the British Natural History Museum collection and freely supplied me with his invaluable sketches of type genitalia; the efforts of Mr. P.E.S. Whalley and Mr. D. Carter of the Entomology Department, British Museum for listing type label data for me; Mr. I.F.B. Common of Entomology Division, CSIRO, Canberra, Mr. A. Neboiss of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne,and Mr. N. McFarland of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide who supplied me With valuable general information, label data and determined specimens for comparative study. A number of convenient abbreviations have been used in this work, and these are listed below.
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    Reproductive behaviour of Ephestia Kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyradidae) : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Entomology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Xu, Jin
    Ephestia kuehniella is a pest of stored grain products. It also is widely used to rear parasitoids and predators. Prior to this study, little information was available on its reproductive behaviour. The fitness of E. kuehniella decreases with the increase of rearing density; a density of 100 larvae/50g food is recommended to produce high quality insects. Females emerge earlier than males. Emergence peaks at dusk; calling, courtship and mating peak in the late part of the 1st scotophase following emergence; oviposition peaks in the early part of the 2nd scotophase following emergence. Newly emerged virgin females carry <5 mature eggs, and the egg load increase to ≈240 three days after emergence and remains unchanged thereafter. Male accessory gland secretions stimulate egg maturation; mated females produce ≈300 mature eggs. Males produce two types of sperm, eupyrene (nucleate) and apyrene (anucleate) sperm. After mating, it takes 11 h for most eupyrene and apyrene sperm to reach the spermatheca. The presence of eupyrene sperm in the spermatheca is the main factor that elicits oviposition. The highest fecundity can be achieved when both sexes are 1-d-old at mating compared to older insects; delaying mating for 7 d reduces female fecundity by 60%. There is no significant effect of parental age on offspring fitness. Virgin females live longer than mated ones because the former allocate less resource for egg production. Larger females have higher fecundity and larger males produce larger spermatophores. Larger parents have larger sons and daughters. Females prefer large and mid-aged males for mating. Males prefer large, young and virgin females for mating. Males strategically adjust ejaculate size according to the degree of sperm competition risks. Both sexes mate multiply where males can copulate up to 9 times and females up to 4 times in their lifetime. Larger and younger females are more likely to remate. Multiple mating does not increase female fecundity, fertility and longevity. Females discriminate against previous mates and strategically adjust oviposition to gain genetic benefit via increasing offspring genetic diversity. Using a chemosterilant, thiotepa, I determined that the last male to mate with a female sires most of her offspring. The last male sperm precedence may be due to sperm displacement at both sperm ejaculation and storage sites, where the 2nd male physically displaces the 1st male’s spermatophore with his own in the bursa copulatrix and triggers the female to dump ≈50% resident sperm in the spermatheca. Spermathecal contractions appear to be the mechanism for sperm ejection. The outcome of sperm displacement is the result of male×female interactions.
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    Feeding experience affects the behavioral response of polyphagous gypsy moth caterpillars to herbivore-induced poplar volatiles
    (Springer Verlag (Germany), 2016-05) McCormick AL; Reinecke A; Gershenzon J; Unsicker S
    Plant volatiles influence host selection of herbivorous insects. Since volatiles often vary in space and time, herbivores (especially polyphagous ones) may be able to use these compounds as cues to track variation in host plant quality based on their innate abilities and previous experience. We investigated the behavioral response of naïve (fed on artificial diet) and experienced (fed on poplar) gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars, a polyphagous species, towards constitutive and herbivore-induced black poplar (Populus nigra) volatiles at different stages of herbivore attack. In Y-tube olfactometer assays, both naïve and experienced caterpillars were attracted to constitutive volatiles and volatiles released after short-term herbivory (up to 6 hr). Naïve caterpillars also were attracted to volatiles released after longer-term herbivory (24-30 hr), but experienced caterpillars preferred the odor of undamaged foliage. A multivariate statistical analysis comparing the volatile emission of undamaged plants vs. plants after short and longer-term herbivory, suggested various compounds as being responsible for distinguishing between the odors of these plants. Ten compounds were selected for individual testing of caterpillar behavioral responses in a four-arm olfactometer. Naïve caterpillars spent more time in arms containing (Z)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate than in solvent permeated arms, while avoiding benzyl cyanide and salicyl aldehyde. Experienced caterpillars avoided benzyl cyanide and preferred (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and the homoterpene (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT) over solvent. Only responses to DMNT were significantly different when comparing experienced and naïve caterpillars. The results show that gypsy moth caterpillars display an innate behavioral response towards constitutive and herbivore-induced plant volatiles, but also that larval behavior is plastic and can be modulated by previous feeding experience.
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    Juvenile socio-sexual experience determines lifetime sperm expenditure and adult survival in a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella
    (Wiley, 8/02/2023) Liu J; He XZ; Zheng X-L; Zhang Y; Wang Q
    Male animals often adjust their sperm investment in response to sperm competition environment. To date, only a few studies have investigated how juvenile socio-sexual settings affect sperm production before adulthood and sperm allocation during the first mating. Yet, it is unclear whether juvenile socio-sexual experience (1) determines lifetime sperm production and allocation in any animal species; (2) alters the eupyrene:apyrene sperm ratio in lifetime ejaculates of any lepidopteran insects, and (3) influences lifetime ejaculation patterns, number of matings and adult longevity. Here we used a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella, to address these questions. Upon male adult emergence from juveniles reared at different density and sex ratio, we paired each male with a virgin female daily until his death. We dissected each mated female to count the sperm transferred and recorded male longevity and lifetime number of matings. We demonstrate for the first time that males ejaculated significantly more eupyrenes and apyrenes in their lifetime after their young were exposed to juvenile rivals. Adult moths continued to produce eupyrene sperm, contradicting the previous predictions for lepidopterans. The eupyrene:apyrene ratio in the lifetime ejaculates remained unchanged in all treatments, suggesting that the sperm ratio is critical for reproductive success. Male juvenile exposure to other juveniles regardless of sex ratio caused significantly shorter adult longevity and faster decline in sperm ejaculation over successive matings. However, males from all treatments achieved similar number of matings in their lifetime. This study provides insight into adaptive resource allocation by males in response to juvenile social-sexual environment.