1987] 
Henry & Busker — Green lacewings 
237 
In many insects, especially Lepidoptera, spermatogenesis is com- 
pleted before adulthood (Chen and Graves, 1970; Chaudbury and 
Raun, 1966; Retnakaran, 1970; Jumper and Cannon, 1975). Other 
insects continue manufacturing sperm as adults, e.g., Coleoptera 
(Jumper and Cannon, 1975; Chang and Riemann, 1967); or cock- 
roaches, like Nauphaeta cinerea (Olivier) (C. Busher, pers. obs.). 
Although no experiments have confirmed this, it seems reasonable 
to assume that insects that continue to produce sperm through their 
adult lives should be capable of manufacturing more of it than those 
endowed with a fixed quantity at adult eclosion. Research on sper- 
matogenesis in green lacewings has not addressed this issue. Some 
data for C. plorabunda suggest a lepidopteran, fixed-quantity pat- 
tern (Sheldon and MacLeod, 1974; Jones et al., 1977), and other 
studies on C. perla imply adult maturation and possibly adult 
manufacture of sperm (Philippe, 1970, 1972). It is known that indi- 
vidual spermatozoans in lacewings of Chrysoperla, Anisochrysa, 
and Chrysopa are quite large, measuring nearly 1 mm in length 
(Baccetti et al., 1969; Rousset, 1983). Considering how much space 
9000 long sperm would occupy, our results with male 86CM1 
(=H of Table 6) strongly suggest continuous, on-demand sperm 
manufacture, at least in C. plorabunda and its close relatives. 
These findings bear directly on the significance of sexual selection 
in lacewing species. Clearly, the potential is present for intense, 
asymmetrical sexual selection among males, because individual 
reproductive potential is so much higher in males than in females. In 
theory, a mere handful of males could monopolize the reproductive 
activities of a large number of females. If a given male could easily 
locate the receptive females in the area, and if those females had a 
way of choosing certain males over others, then he could experience 
disproportionately high reproductive success by either appealing to 
females or outcompeting other males. In nature, however, the situa- 
tion is probably very different. Within a group of individuals living 
in close proximity, a male would most often encounter previously 
inseminated females that were unreceptive to his courtship songs. 
Secondly, males of Chrysoperla spp. are unable to call rare receptive 
females to them over long distances: their songs carry only centime- 
ters, between individuals on contiguous substrates (Henry, 1980a). 
Thirdly, any male that can duet with a female is acceptable to her if 
she is sexually receptive (Henry, 1979, 1983, 1985a, b, 1986). 
