Why do male Callosobruchus maculatus beetles inseminate so many sperm?

Eady, Paul E.

doi:10.1007/bf00175725

Cited by 116 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This is probably because males transfer far more sperm than females can use: on their first ejaculate, males inseminated seven times as many sperm (≈ 46 000) as could be retained in the females' spermathecae (≈ 6500); the remainder rapidly degraded (Eady 1994). Indeed, even on their fourth mating, male C. maculatus inseminated more sperm (≈ 8700) than could be stored in the spermatheca (Eady 1995). Eady (1995) also did not detect any effect of first male mating history on female fertility or on sperm precedence (the second male to mate obtains ≈ 80-90% of all fertilizations), suggesting that, in his population, even by the fourth mating males inseminate sufficient sperm to fertilize all of his mate's eggs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These nutrients appear to influence larval development -females mated to multiple virgin males have greater lifetime fecundity (Wasserman & Asami 1985;Fox 1993a; but see Credland & Wright 1989), lay larger eggs (Fox 1993b) and live longer than females mated only once (Fox 1993a). Ejaculate size -and the number of sperm it contains -varies among males (Eady 1995;Savalli & Fox 1998a,b) and, within individuals, varies with age (Fox et al 1995b) and male mated status: both ejaculate size and number of sperm inseminated decrease substantially with subsequent matings (Eady 1995;Fox et al 1995b).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The effect of male mating history on paternal investment, fecundity and female remating in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus

1999

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1. In many organisms, males provide nutrients to females via ejaculates that can influence female fecundity, longevity and mating behaviour. The effect of male mating history on male ejaculate size, female fecundity, female longevity and female remating behaviour in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus was determined. 2. The quantity of ejaculate passed to females declined dramatically with successive matings. Despite the decline, a male’s ability to fertilize a female fully did not appear to decline substantially until his fourth mating. 3. When females multiply mated with males of a particular mated status, the pattern of egg production was cyclic, with egg production increasing after mating. Females multiply mated to virgins had higher fecundity than females mated to non‐virgins, and females mated to twice‐mated males had disproportionately increased egg production late in their life. 4. Females that mated to multiple virgins, and consequently laid more eggs, experienced greater mortality than females mated only once or mated to non‐virgins, suggesting that egg production is costly, and rather than ameliorating these costs, male ejaculates may increase them by allowing or stimulating females to lay more eggs. 5. Females mating with non‐virgin males remated more readily than did females mated to virgins. Females given food supplements were less likely to remate than females that were nutritionally stressed, suggesting that females remate in part to obtain additional nutrients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

The effect of male mating history on paternal investment, fecundity and female remating in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus

1999

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“…Postcopulatory sexual selection will thus act on such male traits that for instance (a) increase the relative number of sperm that are transferred during copulation (e.g. Dickinson 1986; Tsubaki and Sokei 1988;Parker et al 1990;Eady 1995;Sakaluk and Eggert 1996;Sauer et al 1998), (b) increase the fertilisation probability of each own sperm compared to the sperm of other males (e.g. Dziuk 1996;Birkhead et al 1999) or (c) influence females to fertilise their eggs preferentially with the male's own sperm over the sperm from other males (see Eberhard 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuptial gift consumption influences female remating in a scorpionfly: male or female control of mating rate?

Engqvist

2006

Evol Ecol

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In the scorpionfly Panorpa cognata, males provide females with saliva secretions as nuptial food gifts. Consequently, females derive material benefits and possibly also genetic benefits from multiple matings. Females therefore generally should have a high motivation to remate. Males, on the other hand, do not share this interest, which will generate a sexual conflict over remating interval, possibly leading to male adaptations that prevent females from remating with other males. In this study, I found that mated females were less prone to copulate than virgin females, despite female benefits of multiple matings. Further, I found that the remating interval was significantly longer if the first copulation was long compared to shorter matings. This effect does not entirely depend on copulation duration per se, but on the amount of saliva, that a female is consuming during copulation. These results suggest a mating-induced refractory period and can be interpreted as male manipulation of female remating behaviour mediated through substances in the nuptial gift. Alternatively, receiving large nuptial gifts may decrease the prospective direct fitness benefits from further copulations, and thus change optimal female remating rate. Furthermore, gift size has been shown to correlate with male nutritional condition, which may be an indicator of male genetic quality. Females may therefore benefit indirectly by not remating following copulations involving large saliva gifts. In this scenario, female remating interval would be an effect of cryptic female choice.

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“…In Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) the last male to mate fertilizes on average 80% of the eggs subsequently laid, although there is considerable variation about this mean P 2 value (range 0^1; Eady 1991Eady , 1994a. Previous studies of sperm competition on this beetle have found such variation to be unexplained by either male size, female size, copulatory behaviour or the number of sperm transferred during copulation (Eady 1994a(Eady , 1995. Lack of a clear correlation between paternity and male phenotypic characteristics may be due to the measurement of inappropriate male characteristics or it could result from an overwhelming e¡ect of variation in female reproductive behaviour, morphology and physiology on male fertilization success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female genotype affects male success in sperm competition

Wilson

Tubman

Eady

et al. 1997

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

164

146

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The central question addressed by most studies of sperm competition is:`what determines which male's sperm are used at fertilization?' Empirical and theoretical studies that address this question have traditionally focused on adaptations which enhance male fertilization success while treating the female as a receptacle in which sperm competition is played out. Here we provide evidence which suggests that female genotype strongly in£uences the outcome of sperm competition. When the sperm of two males are in competition the proportion of o¡spring fathered by the second male to mate (P 2 ) was found to be highly repeatable only if the male pair were mated to three di¡erent, but genetically similar females (full-sisters to each other; unrelated to either of the males). In contrast, if a male pair were mated to three females that were unrelated then P 2 was either non-repeatable or marginally repeatable. We also show that male success in sperm competition is determined, to a large extent, by gamete and/or male^female compatibility. This conclusion is derived from the observation that P 2 was repeatable among full-sisters mated to di¡erent, yet genetically similar male pairings, whilst P 2 was non-repeatable among full-sisters mated to di¡erent, genetically distinct male pairings.

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Why do male Callosobruchus maculatus beetles inseminate so many sperm?

Cited by 116 publications

References 35 publications

The effect of male mating history on paternal investment, fecundity and female remating in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus

The effect of male mating history on paternal investment, fecundity and female remating in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus

Nuptial gift consumption influences female remating in a scorpionfly: male or female control of mating rate?

Female genotype affects male success in sperm competition

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