The cost of mating with a non-virgin male in a monandrous butterfly:: experimental evidence from the speckled wood, Pararge aegeria
The cost of mating with a non-virgin male in a monandrous butterfly:: experimental evidence from the speckled wood, Pararge aegeria
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DOI：
10.1007/s00265-005-0142-4
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发表时间：
2006-05-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Van Dyck, H
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lauwers, K;Van Dyck, H
与脊椎动物相反，昆虫的精子生产可能会给雄性带来相当大的成本。对于那些捐献含有精子和营养丰富的辅助腺产物的精囊的物种（如蝴蝶）尤其如此。因此，第一次交配和随后的交配时的精细胞在数量和质量上可能有所不同。这种效应在提供大精囊的一妻多夫物种中尤其明显。在这里，我们通过实验测试了雄性交配状态（未交配的雄性与最近交配的雄性）对通常捐赠小精囊的单性蝴蝶 Pararge aegeria 的交配持续时间、精子大小和雌性健康成分的影响。与非处女雄性的交配持续时间平均比与处女雄性的交配时间长五倍，并且产生的精囊平均小三倍。产卵数量和雌性寿命不受交配状态处理的影响，但对雌性产生的活毛毛虫数量有显着影响，因为与处女雄性交配会产生更多数量的幼虫后代。有趣的是，第一次和第二次交配时精子质量的差异随着雄性体型的增大而增加。这表明不同体型的雄性之间的精囊分配决策存在差异。讨论了对女性的后果以及影响女性健身成分的潜在机制。鉴于 P. aegeria 中精子细胞的绝对尺寸较小，除了消耗性营养物质（可能是激素）之外的其他成分应该会引起观察到的影响。
Contrary to vertebrates, sperm production in insects may bear considerable costs for males. This is especially true in species that donate spermatophores containing sperm and nutrient-rich accessory gland products like in butterflies. Hence, spermatophores at first and subsequent copulations can differ in a quantitative and qualitative way. Such effects have particularly been shown in polyandrous species providing large spermatophores. Here we experimentally tested the effect of male mating status (virgin male vs recently mated male) on copulation duration, spermatophore size and females' fitness components in a monandrous butterfly Pararge aegeria that typically donates small spermatophores. Copulations with non-virgin males lasted on average five times longer than that with virgin males and resulted in a spermatophore which was on average three times smaller. Number of eggs laid and female life span were not affected by the mating status treatment, but there was a significant effect on the number of living caterpillars a female produced, as copulations with virgin males resulted in higher numbers of larval offspring. Interestingly, the difference in spermatophore mass at the first and the second copulation increased with male body size. This suggests differential spermatophore allocation decisions among males of different size. Consequences for females and potential mechanisms influencing female fitness components are discussed. Given the small absolute size of spermatophores in P. aegeria, components other than consumable nutrients (perhaps hormones) should cause the observed effects.