Evidence for Visually Mediated Copulation Frequency in the Scarab Beetle Anomala corpulenta

The scarab beetle, Anomala corpulenta Motschulsky, is a metallic iridescent species that selectively reflects left-circularly polarized light and possesses a brilliant metallic green appearance. We hypothesized that A. corpulenta use the green circularly polarized signal for conspecific communication, specifically sexual signaling and mate selection. To test this, we examined the influence of vision, body color and polarized light environment on the mating behavior of A. corpulenta. The results reported here demonstrate that A. corpulenta uses the green cuticle-reflected light for mate choice in its visual environment, although the role of color and circular polarization separately and independent of each other could not be revealed in this study.