Post-copulatory sexual selection in insects: discovering new mechanisms of male and female mate choice

在自然界中，尽管自然选择应该有利于它，但有些交配并不导致后代的产生。交配发生，但通过形态，生理和/或行为后交配过程，授精并不总是成功的，导致所谓的交配失败。交配失败可能被低估，比以前认为的更普遍。例如，已知种子虫Lygaeus simulans具有40-60%的交配失败。在这里，我们将集中讨论交配后的性选择在交配失败中的作用。simulans。通过环境和饮食的操纵，我们将探讨如何警戒色，信息素和表皮碳氢化合物（CHC）配置文件影响交配后的择偶。我们将同时研究雄性和雌性，但将集中在神秘的雄性选择上，这一点受到的关注要少得多。由于来自这个家庭的男性已经被证明可以转移更多的精子，并与更大的女性交配更长时间，尽管传统观点，我们预计男性可以选择在交配期间不使女性受精。这个项目的发现可以帮助重新解释我们对交配系统的一般理解，通过对男性和女性在整个交配过程中的择偶作用提供新的见解，从寻找配偶到后代生产。此外，这些发现还可以为研究动物不育症提供新的方法。

In the natural world, although natural selection should favour against it, some matings don't lead to offspring production. Copulations occur, but through morphological, physiological and or behavioural post-copulatory processes, insemination isn't always successful, resulting in what is called mating failure. Mating failure is likely underreported and more prevalent than previously thought. For example, the seed bugs Lygaeus simulans are known for having 40-60% of mating failure. Here, we will focus on the role that post-copulatory sexual selection play in mating failure in L. simulans. Through environment and diet manipulations, we will investigate how aposematic colouration, pheromones and cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) profiles influence post-copulatory mate choice. We will look at both males and females but will concentrate on cryptic male choice which has received considerably less attention. As males from this family have been shown to transfer more sperm and mate for longer with larger females, and despite traditional views, we expect that males could choose not to inseminate females during copulation. Findings from this project could help reinterpret our general understanding of mating systems by giving new insights in the role of male and female mate choice throughout mating, from searching for a mate to offspring production. Moreover, these findings could also shed light on new ways of studying infertility in animals.