Certain male fruit flies from the genera Bactrocera and Zeugodacus (Diptera: Tephritidae) actively forage for floral semiochemicals produced by some endemic Bulbophyllum orchids found in tropical and subtropical forests. These floral semiochemicals are largely classified as either phenylbutanoids (e.g., raspberry ketone (RK)) or phenylpropanoids (e.g., methyl eugenol (ME)). Zingerone (ZN) is a phenylbutanoid recently found that structurally resembles ME and RK, both of which are phytochemicals commonly used as male attractants in fruit fly control programmes. It was previously shown that feeding on ME and RK increased the mating success of certain tephritid fruit flies, specifically in B. dorsalis and B. tryoni males, respectively, through enhancement of sexual signaling. However, ZN, which acts as a metabolic enhancer to increase male courtship activity in B. tryoni, did not show the same effect. As fruit fly-phytochemical lure interactions are unique and species-specific phenomena, this study seeks to elucidate the ecological significance of ZN feeding to Zeugodacus tau in terms of sexual signaling. We demonstrate here that ZN feeding by Z. tau males enhanced female attraction and subsequent mating success by increasing male courtship, and the attractiveness of the sexual signals in both wind tunnel and semi-field cage bioassays. In addition, we also demonstrated temporal effects on male behaviour in relation to the amount of lure intake. However, feeding on ZN did not appear to affect the total time spent in copula for Z. tau. This is the first report showing an important role of ZN in increasing courtship activity as well as enhancement of sexual signaling in Z. tau males.

中文翻译：

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姜黄酮可通过增强男性求爱活动和性信号传导来改善牛头Ze（Diugeracus Tephritidae）的交配性能。

Bactrocera和Zeugodacus（Diptera：Tephritidae）属的某些雄性果蝇积极地觅食一些热带和亚热带森林中特有的Bulbophyllum兰花产生的花化学信息素。这些花状信息化学物质主要分为苯基丁烷类化合物（例如，覆盆子酮（RK））或苯基丙烷类物质（例如，甲基丁香酚（ME）。Zingerone（ZN）是一种苯基丁烷，最近发现其结构类似于ME和RK，它们都是在果蝇控制计划中通常用作雄性引诱剂的植物化学物质。以前的研究表明，以ME和RK为食，通过增强性信号传导，增加了某些特福列特果蝇的交配成功率，尤其是分别在背侧双歧杆菌和Tryoni男性中。但是ZN 它可作为代谢增强剂以增加B. tryoni的男性求爱活动，但未显示出相同的效果。由于果蝇与植物化学诱饵之间的相互作用是独特的且是物种特有的现象，因此本研究试图从性信号方面阐明ZN饲喂Zeugodacus tau的生态意义。我们在这里证明Z. tau雄性的ZN喂养通过增加雄性求偶而增强了雌性吸引力，并随后增加了交配成功，并且在风洞法和半田式笼式生物测定法中性信号的吸引力。此外，我们还证明了与诱饵摄入量有关的男性行为的时间影响。但是，饲喂ZN似乎并没有影响在牛角菌中在copula上花费的总时间。