MUTUAL PREFERENCE FOR LARGE MATES IN GREEN STINK BUGS, ACROSTERNUM HILARE (HEMIPTERA, PENTATOMIDAE)

Experiments with green stink bugs in the laboratory demonstrated that females choosing between males preferred to mate with the larger of the two, when the confounding effect of direct physical male-male competition was removed. Similarly, males preferred to mate first with the larger of two females. A significant positive relationship between female body size and fecundity was found. Thus the adaptive significance of male choice for large females is a direct reproductive gain while the advantage to females choosing large males is less clear. Mutual choice appears to lead to assortative mating in this system.