Authors: LIZÉ, ANNE; CORTESERO, ANNE MARIE¹; POINSOT, DENIS¹; BOIVIN, GUY²

Source: Physiological Entomology, Volume 34, Number 2, June 2009 , pp. 129-135(7)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

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By contrast to females that can maximize reproductive success with only one or a few copulations, males generally increase their fitness with frequency of mating. Sperm storage and allocation is therefore crucial for both male and female fitness. Sperm storage in Aleochara bilineata (Coleoptera; Staphylinidae) is investigated by measuring the number of spermatozoa stored in the female spermatheca after single, double or triple successive copulations with different males. The potential advantages of polyandry are studied in terms of the number of sperm stored by females mated twice with the same male (i.e. repeated copulation), compared with females mated twice with two different virgin males (i.e. polyandry). Level of polygyny is also estimated by measuring sperm allocation when ten successive mates are offered to a virgin male. Aleochara bilineata females store the sperm of the same or different males additively, suggesting no advantage for polyandry in terms of the number of sperm stored. A virgin male is able to inseminate ten different females but the number of sperm transferred decreases linearly. Finally, the latencies and durations of copulations are measured in all experiments to estimate changes according to the male or female status (i.e. virgin or mated). The latency before mating is higher when females are virgin than when females have already mated.

Keywords: Aleochara bilineata; mating duration; mating latency; mating strategy; sperm allocation; sperm storage; spermatozoa

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3032.2008.00662.x

Affiliations: 1: UMR 1099, BiO 3P, Biology of Organisms and Populations applied to Plant Protection, University of Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, France 2: Horticultural Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agrifood, St Jean sur Richelieu, Canada

Publication date: 2009-06-01

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