Abstract: The second male vibrational signal (SMVS) of the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) and its significance in competitive reproductive behavior were studied in laboratory. The results are as following: 1. SMVS was only emitted by co-living males.This SMVS behavior was, while closely associated with density and age of males, also influenced by environmental temperature and the existence of females. 2. In the course of courtship and mating the males emitting SMVS became increasingly dominant with 70.2 % successful mating, males with no SMVS, however, showed only 14.9 %. 3.The percentage of mated N. lugens was (45.7±18.3)% with the playback of the SMVS record, which was much lower than those with no playback signal (CK) or playback of female vibrational signal (FVS) and first male vibrational signal (FMVS) . The playback of SMVS, on the other hand, had no obvious influence on the percentage of S. furcifera mated. The resultsindicated that SMVS is a species-specific competitive reproductive signal of N. lugens.

Key words: Nilaparvata lugens, acoustic behavior, second male vibrational signal, com- peti-tive behavior, competitve reproductive signal, aggressive signal