I am conducting a study on biology of Diaphorina citri in order to know average female fecundity. In order to do it I have to release one male and female pair. Problem for me is that it is very difficult to handle this insect and it becomes more inconvenient to identify live insect's sex
In males, the end of the abdomen is curved upward while, in
females, the end of the abdomen is straight, coming to a point
I have found that this insect is very hardy. I can pick it up with my fingers and it seems to do just fine. Picking it up with forceps is more tricky.
People anesthetize this insect using cold or CO2. CO2 is very fast. I then have to pass a very light stream of CO2 over the microscope stage to sex the insects. Cold also works, with a few minutes in a freezer being sufficient. One then may need a cold block under the microscope stage to keep the insects quiet. Please note, that both methods will kill the insect if the insect is exposed for too long.
In non-technical terms:
Females have a butt that is pointy >
Males have a rounded butt that has some bits pointing straight up.
It is easy to see with back lighting of the insects and viewing them from the side. The sex ratio should be close to 50-50 most of the year and in colonies. During cold winter months, the males can become less common.
Its my privilege to have your answers @Abhishek Shukla and Timothy A Ebert Thank you
This paper can be useful for you
Morphometry of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae) on Six
Rutaceae species.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1653/024.096.0218
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