The reproductive and mating strategies of the twisted-winged parasites (Insecta: Strepsiptera): novel insights in the reproductive biology of an enigmatic insect order

扭翅寄生虫（昆虫纲：链翅目）的繁殖和交配策略：对神秘昆虫目繁殖生物学的新见解

• 批准号: 436226643
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Rolf Georg Beutel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/436226643?language=en
• 关键词: reproductive; mating; strategies; twisted; winged

The interaction between males and females during copulation rarely proceeds in perfect harmony, and sexual aggression is widespread in the animal kingdom. A particularly unusual and bizarre form of sexual aggression is traumatic mating, during which the genitals or other body parts of a sexual partner are injured. Traumatic mating is widespread and a multifaceted phenomenon and it evolved in various evolutionary lineages (e.g., amphibians, snails, annelids, nematodes, and arthropods). Traumatic mating can manifest itself in different ways, such as traumatic penetration (injury of the female) or traumatic insemination (hypodermal injection of sperm). Traumatic insemination occurs in several insect lineages, in particular in bed bugs and the twisted-winged parasites (Strepsiptera), which serve as text book examples for major insect groups exhibiting this peculiar copulation mode. Whether traumatic insemination indeed represents the general mating strategy of Strepsiptera is unclear, however. In fact, it has recently been postulated that in Strepsiptera traumatic insemination is limited to species of the species-poor family Mengenillidae, whose females are free-living. Those strepsipterans whose females are permanent endoparasites (Stylopidia) are assumed to have switched back to non-traumatic mating. Finally, it has been argued that Strepsiptera females mate only with a single male (monandry) and that there is no co-evolutionary arms race between the sexes in the group. Our research project aims to study the poorly known reproductive biology of the enigmatic twisted-winged parasites for the first time comprehensively and in unprecedented detail. We will apply an interdisciplinary approach that comprises a wide array of modern research methods from various disciplines (i.e., comparative anatomy and functional morphology, molecular biology, biomechanics). This study is required as the above statements on the reproductive biology of Strepsiptera are largely speculative and likely premature. For example, we have reason to assume that traumatic insemination occurs in all lineages of Strepsiptera, not only in Mengenillidae, and that this insect order thus legitimately deserves to be mentioned in text books as example for a major group of organisms that makes general use of this mode of copulation. We furthermore assume that Strepsiptera females of different subgroups can get fertilized by multiple males (polyandry), and that females are morphological adapted to traumatic insemination via evolution of tolerance traits. The results of our research project will thus not only reveal novel insights into the elusive reproductive biology of species of Strepsiptera, but will also be of major interest to evolutionary biologists who study sexual conflict and co-evolution.

在交配过程中，雄性和雌性之间的相互作用很少和谐进行，性攻击在动物界很普遍。创伤性交配是一种特别不寻常和奇怪的性侵犯形式，在此过程中，性伴侣的生殖器或其他身体部位会受到伤害。创伤性交配是一种普遍和多方面的现象，它在不同的进化谱系(如两栖动物、蜗牛、环节动物、线虫和节肢动物)中进化。创伤性交配可以以不同的方式表现出来，例如创伤性穿透(伤害雌性)或创伤性授精(皮下注射精子)。创伤性受精发生在几个昆虫谱系中，特别是在臭虫和扭曲翅膀寄生虫(链翅目)中，这是展示这种特殊交配模式的主要昆虫群体的教科书例子。然而，创伤性受精是否真的代表了链霉目的一般交配策略，目前尚不清楚。事实上，最近有人推测，在链霉菌中，创伤性人工授精仅限于贫穷的门氏科物种，其雌性是自由生活的。那些雌性是永久性内寄生虫(鞘翅目)的链翅目昆虫被认为已经切换回非创伤性交配。最后，有人争辩说，链翅目雌性只与一只雄性交配(一夫多妻制)，并且该群体中的性别之间不存在共同进化的军备竞赛。我们的研究项目旨在首次全面和前所未有地详细研究神秘的扭曲翅寄生虫鲜为人知的生殖生物学。我们将采用跨学科的方法，包括来自不同学科的广泛的现代研究方法(即比较解剖学和功能形态学、分子生物学、生物力学)。这项研究是必要的，因为上述关于链翅目生殖生物学的说法在很大程度上是推测的，可能还为时过早。例如，我们有理由假设，创伤性受精发生在链霉目的所有谱系中，而不仅仅是门氏虫科，因此这种昆虫目理应在教科书中被提及，作为通常使用这种交配模式的主要有机体的例子。我们进一步假设，不同亚群的链翅目雌性可以通过多个雄性(一夫多妻)受精，并且雌性通过耐受性特征的进化在形态上适应创伤受精。因此，我们的研究项目的结果不仅将揭示链翅目物种难以捉摸的生殖生物学的新见解，而且也将引起研究性别冲突和共同进化的进化生物学家的主要兴趣。