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The costs of copulating in the dung fly Sepsis cynipsea (2002)
| Content Provider | CiteSeerX |
|---|---|
| Author | Blanckenhorn, Wolf U. Hosken, David J. Martin, Oliver Y. Reim, Constanze Teuschl, Yvonne Ward, Paul I. |
| Abstract | Finding, assessing, rejecting, and copulating with a mate is assumed to carry fitness costs, particularly for females, that have to be traded off against fitness benefits of mating such as increased fecundity, fertility, longevity, or better quality offspring. Female dung flies, Sepsis cynipsea (Diptera: Sepsidae), typically attempt to dislodge mounted males harassing them by vigorous shaking. Shaking duration has been shown to reflect both direct and indirect female choice in this species. The latter is an expression of the females ’ general reluctance to mate due to presumed costs of mating. We investigated the costs of copulation in the laboratory. Females were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups and allowed to copulate either not at all, once, or twice. The males ’ armored genitalia injured females internally during copula. Injuries were visible as sclerotized scars in the female ovipositor, and their occurrence increased with mating frequency. Presumably due to these injuries, mated females showed higher mortality. This effect was statistically independent from additional costs of reproduction related to oviposition, as copulation also increased lifetime egg production and tended to augment oviposition rate (eggs per day), while fertility (proportion of offspring emerged) was unaffected. We thus found high mortality costs of copulating, indicating substantial sexual conflict, which helps explain female reluctance to mate in this species. Key words: female reluctance, genitalia, internal injuries, mating behavior, mating costs, sexual conflict, sexual selection. [Behav Ecol 13:353–358 (2002)] Mating is a costly activity. Over the past decades, a slowparadigm shift has occurred from regarding mating as a process of mutual benefit to one loaded with conflict |
| File Format | |
| Journal | Behav. Ecol |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2002-01-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Sepsis Cynipsea Female Reluctance Presumed Cost Additional Cost Oviposition Rate Increased Fecundity Costly Activity Sexual Conflict Internal Injury Female Ovipositor Behav Ecol Female Dung Fly Substantial Sexual Conflict Sclerotized Scar Sexual Selection Indirect Female Choice Mounted Male Treatment Group Fitness Cost Mutual Benefit High Mortality Cost Female General Reluctance Lifetime Egg Production Slowparadigm Shift Mating Frequency Fitness Benefit Key Word Mating Cost Past Decade Genitalia Injured Female |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
