Dissertation Research: Behavioral Selection in Insects

许多节肢动物的雄性在求偶或交配期间（婚饲）为其配偶提供营养。这种情况，特别是在昆虫和蜘蛛中，是很有趣的，因为它们偏离了更典型的交配模式，即雄性一夫多妻，几乎没有物质投入。控制昆虫雄性投资增加的功能意义和生态条件一直是行为生态学家和进化生物学家感兴趣的话题。该项目将通过确定最极端的雄性交配喂养方式——雄性交配自杀——可以选择的条件，增加对雄性提供结婚礼物的交配系统的理解。本项目是对两种同类蜘蛛（Latrodectus hasselti和L. geometricus）的比较研究，其中雄性在交配过程中似乎为雌性牺牲了自己。野外观察的日常活动，求偶行为和交配成功将结合分阶段的实验室互动和生殖输出的估计来描述这两个物种的交配系统，选择压力和人口特征。从这个物种收集到的信息将被用来建立一个雄性交配自杀选择的模型，该模型将把这种行为置于现有的性选择理论框架内。

ABSTRACT Sherman & Andrade IBN 96-23182 An Investigation of Selection for Male Sacrifice Behavior Males of many arthropod species contribute nutrients to their mates during courtship or copulation ( nuptial feeding ). Such cases, particularly among the insects and spiders, are interesting because they represent deviations from the more typical mating pattern of male polygyny with little material investment. The functional significance and ecological conditions controlling increased male investment in insects has been a topic of interest for behavioral ecologists and evolutionary biologists. The proposed project will increase understanding of mating systems where males provide nuptial gifts by determining the conditions under which the most extreme type of male nuptial feeding -- male copulatory suicide--can be selected. This project is a comparative study of two congeneric spider species (Latrodectus hasselti and L. geometricus) in which males appear to sacrifice themselves to females during copulation. Field observations of daily movements, courtship behavior and mating success will be combined with staged laboratory interactions and estimations of reproductive output to characterize the mating system, selective pressures, and demographic characteristics of these two species. Information gathered from this species will be used to produce a model for the selection of male copulatory suicide that will place the behavior within the existing framework of sexual selection theory.