Abstract:
Callosobruchus maculatus is a bean beetle that lays eggs on the surface of beans, the larvae hatch out of the eggs and immediately burrow into the bean to devour all its nutrients and mature into an adult. The study of the male’s reproductive success when given access to water versus no access could lead scientists down a path of slowing the growth of the bean beetle population. The study was performed in lab 201 September 16th, groups separated a dish of watered males with un-watered females and a group of un-watered males and females, the control, to test if the availability of water in the adult phase would affect the male’s success of offspring. The class collected no data that suggested water availability made a significant difference in the success of the male’s reproduction; the average number of eggs counted in the watered dishes were 56.8 and in the dry dishes it was 31. The average of hatchlings …show more content…
The beetle lives for one to two weeks and does not need water of food in its adult stage. Bean beetles receive all of their water and nutrients from the spermatophore, a sac filled with sperm, water and nutrients, the male deposits into the female (Blumer & Beck, 2014). Once the female is fertilized the female will deposit a single oviposit on the surface of a mung bean. According to Tomohiro Harano and Takahisa Miyatake A female can lay over one hundred eggs and be fertilized by multiple male partners (Harano & Miyatake, 2009). The larva hatches then burrows into the bean to feed on it until it is an adult rendering the bean useless. The purpose of this experiment is to test whether water availability to male bean beetles will affect their reproductive success. It is expected that if a male bean beetle is given access to water before mating, then he will have a greater yield of successful