Sexual maturation and reproductive organ maturation (full development of reproductive tissues) are not more likely to follow the similar physiological trajectory; Q-flies can be sexually active and start mating before their reproductive tissues are fully developed (Perez-Staples et al., 2011). This raises the questions of whether methoprene treatment promotes the maturation of reproductive tissues or simply fastens mating at earlier stages of reproductive development, which in turn might result in ineffective copulations. Though methoprene applied in acetone solution to pupae and flies with access to YH is known to accelerate sexual maturation in Q-fly (Collins et al., 2014), the effects on reproductive organ development have not been investigated.
