Evidence of female cryptic choice in crayfish

Abstract

To test whether male body size affects female reproductive investment in the polygamous crayfish Procambarus clarkii, we described mating behaviour of virgin females paired with either small or large males, and analysed the number, size and weight of both eggs and juveniles sired by either types of male. Along with confirming the overt selection by females of larger mates, we found that the size and weight of both the eggs and the juveniles were higher when sired by larger fathers. This suggests that P. clarkii females exert a form of cryptic choice for large males, seemingly adjusting the quantity of egg deutoplasm in function of the mate body size. The question of why females spend time and energy to brood lowfitness offspring is finally raised.

Biological control of invasive populations of crayfish: the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) as a predator of Procambarus clarkii

“…Smaller individuals, in fact, are usually trap-shy, whereas traps mostly attract large, usually male reproductive crayfish (Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008). This confirms the need to include complementary methods, e.g.…”

Cryptic Female Choice in Crustaceans

“…In the freshwater crayfish Austropotamobius italicus, females produce larger but fewer eggs with small-sized, large-clawed males, and smaller but more eggs with large-sized, small-clawed males (Galeotti et al 2006). In contrast, females of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii produce larger eggs with larger males, and smaller eggs with smaller males (Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008). To better understand the ecological circumstances and evolutionary significance of such contrasting patterns of differential allocation, further studies are needed to determine how egg size trades off with egg number, and how it affects offspring fitness in each of these species.…”

“…As an exception, studies on hermit crabs revealed that spermatophore transfer does not start unless the female touches the male mouthparts with her chelipeds or legs (Contreras-Garduño et al 2007), which could represent a form of precopulatory mate choice. More direct support for cryptic female choice in crustaceans is provided by studies reporting biased reproductive effort in favor of certain male traits such as body and chela size (Galeotti et al 2006;Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008), which are not always convincingly explainable by sperm competition alone. Similarly, biased offspring ratios can indicate a role for cryptic female choice (e.g., Gosselin et al 2005;Bailie et al 2011;Jossart et al 2014), particularly if accompanied by additional indicators for cryptic female choice such as sperm removal or selective sperm passage through the female reproductive tract (see Table 8.2).…”

“…In crustaceans, differential reproductive investment by females has been suggested for two crayfish species, which are thought to adjust egg size and number depending on male body and chela size (Galeotti et al 2006;Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008). Adjustment of egg size might be achieved through controlled reabsorption of deutoplasm of the eggs (Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008).…”

“…Although the last decade has seen a recurrent interest in female control of the insemination process (e.g., Thiel and Hinojosa 2003;Galeotti et al 2006;Aquiloni and Gherardi 2008), cryptic female choice remains challenging to study because the underlying mechanisms are usually subtle, difficult to observe, and closely interact with sperm competition and male-driven processes.…”