Temporal Trends: Phase-shifted time-series analysis reveals highly correlated reproductive behaviors in the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)
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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For those researching reproduction of the black soldier fly (BSF), finding meaningful correlations between mating and downstream reproductive fitness metrics, owing to complex reproductive behavior and physiology, has been challenging. On the one hand, mating is not necessarily deterministic of fertile eggs being produced, since females might lay unfertile eggs both before and after mating. But conversely, the process is not ‘random’ either, since fertility is predicated on the exchange of gametes during mating. To investigate the relationship between mating and other reproductive metrics, a cross-correlation analysis between lagged time series was conducted on data previously collected during a semi-outdoor greenhouse experiment. This process compared the average percent correlation between un-lagged mating with oviposition in traps, oviposition outside traps, total weight of eggs deposited, and hatch rate, which were lagged 0 to 6 days. This revealed that average mating was 97.54% correlated with oviposition in traps lagged by 2 days. For oviposition outside of traps, total egg weights, and hatch rate, these were also ∼71.63% correlated, 60.29% correlated, and 75.16% correlated with mating respectively, which were optimized when the time series were lagged n = 3 days. These trends likely have a biological basis since flies decrease their reproductive activity as they expend energy and senesce, aligning with temporal patterns consistently observed during BSF rearing.
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The temporal pattern of mating appears generally consistent across experiments and is highly correlated (98%) to oviposition events 2-3 days later.
“Importantly, recent work has shown this temporal pattern appears to generally be consistent across experiments and are highly correlated (98%) to oviposition events 2-3 days later (Lemke, Li, and De Smet 2025).”
From Beyond the Black Box: Reproductive Strategies of the Black Soldier Fly as a Model for Bridging Evolutionary Biology and Applied Entomology (2026) · cites this paper as Lemke, Li, and De Smet 2025
The Cross Correlation of Time Series Data section (page unavailable) reports a 97.54% average percent correlation between mating and oviposition in traps at a two-day lag, reasonably rounded to 98%. But oviposition outside traps reached only about 72% at a three-day lag. The analysis used two trials from one experiment, so it does not establish that the 98% relationship is consistent across experiments. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lemke, N. B., Li, C., & De Smet, J.
- Affiliations
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Guangzhou Unique Biotechnology, Room 1717, 101 Science Avenue, Huanpu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- Research Group for Insect Production and Processing, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven, Campus Geel, Kleinhoefstraat 4, 2440 Geel, Belgium
- Corresponding author
- Lemke, Noah B
- Venue
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2025-08-31
- OpenAlex
- W4413856352
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 46
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- U.S. Fulbright Commission to Belgium-Luxembourg (2025-2026 US Belgium Fulbright Scholar Program)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect Utilization and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect behavior and control techniques
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- Hermetia illucens, mating behavior, oviposition, reproductive fitness, egg fertility, hatch rate, reproductive aging, insect reproduction
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