Time-Shifted Mating Periods in Two Closely Related Corixid Species

Sound production, Seasonal isolation, Overwintering, Aquatic insects The water boatmen Corixa dentipes and C. punctata produce an acoustic mounting signal when beginning to copulate. Automated recording o f this signal over the entire life cycle of the animals reveals that the main mating period of C. punctata occurs in autumn and that o f C. dentipes, in the spring. In the case o f C. punctata, mounting signals were routinely recorded even during the winter, at water temperatures below 4 °C.