Transfer of Ejaculate and Incorporation of Male‐derived Substances by Females in the Nannoptera Species Group (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Pitnick, Scott; Markow, Therese A.; Riedy, Michael F.

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1991.tb04347.x

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Male contribution in the form of proteinaceous nutrients in the ejaculate is frequent in insects with internal spermatophores, such as grasshoppers (Friedel & Gillot, 1977;Butlin et al, 1987;Pardo eta!., 1994), butterflies (Boggs & Gilbert, 1979), cockroaches (Mullins et al, 1992) and Drosophila (Pitnick et al, 1991). It has been demonstrated separately that ejacu- The present investigation confirms the hypothesis that species in which males provide benefits to their mates show high levels of last male sperm precedence (Walker, 1980;Gwynne 1984); E. plorans is characterized by highly significant male reproductive investment, in the form of proteinaceous nutrients present in the ejaculate and transferred to females and eggs thereby improving female fitness (this paper), and there is last male sperm precedence (López-León et a!., 1993).…”

Section: Generaldiscussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female fitness is increased by frequent mating in grasshoppers

et al. 1995

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Radiolabeffing experiments with Eyprepocnemis plorans demonstrated that males transfer proteinaceous substances with the ejaculate that are subsequently incorporated into the eggs that the females lay. The amount of male radioactive nutrients detected in the eggs was positively correlated to mating frequency, and the proportion incorporated was almost twice that of egg weight relative to female weight. This might suggest the existence of a specific mechanism selectively incorporating male ejaculate nutrients into the eggs. Another series of experiments with four types of female differing in mating frequency and male availability demonstrated that female production of eggs and embryos is directly proportional to mating frequency. This improvement in female fecundity is from the ejaculate nutrient transfer and both effects are directly dependent on mating frequency. Furthermore, in females crossed sequentially with two different males, there was a significant increase in mating frequency when the female was given the second male. This could be due to an increased mating effort of the second male to displace paternity of the previous male. The low paternity confidence and the polygynandnc mating system that characterize E. plorans suggest that male ejaculate nutrients most likely function as a kind of mating effort rather than paternal investment.

show abstract

Section: Generaldiscussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female fitness is increased by frequent mating in grasshoppers

et al. 1995

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Females may gain nutrients at mating (e.g. Pitnick et al, 1991) and there may sometimes be benefits from increased genetic diversity among offspring (Williams, 1975). Multiple mating could also promote competition among ejaculates of different males (Parker, 1970).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among animals there is considerable variation in the extent to which females remate (Halliday and Arnold, 1987). This diversity can be seen among the members of the Genus Drosophila, where D. pachea has been reported to remate several times daily (Pitnick et al, 1991) while D. subobscura from northern populations do not do so in the course of a lifespan that can last several weeks (Maynard Smith, 1956;Steele, 1984). High and variable rates of multiple insemination in field populations have been reported for D. melanogaster (47% estimated by Milkman and Zeitler, 1974;12-65% by Marks et al, 1988) and Drosophila pseudoobscura (> 50% estimated by Anderson, 1974;30-60"~ by Cobbs, 1977;60-100% by Levine et al, 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remating and male‐derived nutrients in Drosophila melanogaster

Chapman

Trevitt

Partridge

1994

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Laboratory natural selection and environmental manipulations were used to investigate the importance of male-derived nutrients to female Drosophila melanogaster.No evidence for the importance of such nutrients was found. Females from the same wild type base stock exposed as adults to low quality food did not show elevated fecundity or survival when they remated more frequently, and on high quality food the females showed a 'cost of mating' in reduced survival. Laboratory evolution on low quality food did not lead to elevated rates of remating by females; females from each selection regimen remated more frequently than one another when kept on the food type to which they had been exposed for the previous 5 years, on which they also showed higher fecundity than one another. Even under conditions of extreme nutritional stress, when females were exposed to short term (4-day) cycle of exposure to very low and high quality food, they remated more frequently immediately after exposure to high quality food. The results of this last experiment suggested that, under these circumstances, current nutrition, fecundity or rate of sperm usage was more important than number of sperm in store or cumulative fecundity in determining the probability that a female would remate.

show abstract

“…A possible explanation is that they are produced by some substance(s) contained in the ejaculate. It is known that males of many insects contribute proteinaceous nutrients with the ejaculate (Markow & Ankney, 1984;Pitnick et al, 1991). We have recently observed transfer of nutrients from ejaculate into eggs of E. plorans using radioactive labelling (Pardo et al, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Evidence for B chromosome drive suppression in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

et al. 1996

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans is polymorphic for both a B chromosome and a heterochromatic segment of chromatin on the smallest autosome. Females transmit these to their offspring more frequently after copulating with a male from a population without Bs than after copulating with a male from their own population. Paternity analyses using the heterochromatic segment as a marker showed that the effect of male on female transmission does not depend on fertilization because it occurs even when all the eggs are fertilized by sperm from another mating. The possible mechanisms include behavioural differences in mating and transfer of substances affecting female meiosis in male ejaculate. The data support the idea that the B chromosome is initially subject to meiotic drive in populations in which it has not previously existed, and that genes which suppress this drive are then selected.

show abstract

Transfer of Ejaculate and Incorporation of Male‐derived Substances by Females in the Nannoptera Species Group (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Cited by 42 publications

References 39 publications

Female fitness is increased by frequent mating in grasshoppers

Female fitness is increased by frequent mating in grasshoppers

Remating and male‐derived nutrients in Drosophila melanogaster

Evidence for B chromosome drive suppression in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About