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

在自然界中，尽管自然选择会反对交配，但有些交配并不能产生后代。交配发生了，但通过形态、生理和/或行为的交配后过程，授精并不总是成功的，导致了所谓的交配失败。交配失败可能被低估了，而且比以前认为的要普遍得多。例如，Lygaeus拟虫的交配失败率为40-60%。在这里，我们将重点讨论交配后的性选择在拟马虎交配失败中所起的作用。通过环境和饮食操作，我们将研究香气着色、信息素和角质层碳氢化合物（CHC）谱如何影响交配后的配偶选择。我们将同时研究男性和女性，但将集中于隐性的男性选择，这方面的关注要少得多。由于来自这个家族的雄性已经被证明可以转移更多的精子，并且与体型较大的雌性交配更长时间，尽管有传统观点，我们希望雄性在交配过程中可以选择不让雌性受精。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，通过对雄性和雌性在交配过程中从寻找配偶到生育后代的配偶选择的作用提供新的见解。此外，这些发现也可能为研究动物不孕症提供新的方法。

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.