scholarly journals An empirical test of the bet‐hedging polyandry hypothesis: Female red flour beetles avoid extinction via multiple mating

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentarou Matsumura ◽  
Takahisa Miyatake ◽  
Yukio Yasui
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Bet Hedging ◽  
Flour Beetles ◽  
Red Flour Beetles

Female multiple mating for fertility assurance in red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum)

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (7) ◽  
pp. 913-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Pai ◽  
Lauren Bennett ◽  
Guiyun Yan
Keyword(s):  
Tribolium Castaneum ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Red Flour Beetle ◽  
Adult Offspring ◽  
Sperm Viability ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Multiple Partners ◽  
Flour Beetles ◽  
Sperm Depletion ◽  
Red Flour Beetles

The costs of mating with multiple partners include expenditure of energy and time and a reduction in lifespan, but females of many taxa mate with several different partners shortly after their first copulation. Often it is not clear what females gain from this behaviour. In this study, we used the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum Herbst, 1797) to test the hypothesis that females mate with multiple males for fertility assurance because the first copulation often does not lead to offspring production. We found that the probability of producing offspring, as measured by the proportion of females that produced offspring, was not affected by multiple mating when females were mated to virgin partners. However, when females were mated to nonvirgin partners, multiple mating led to an increased probability of producing offspring. To establish the mechanism through which multiple mating enhanced the probability of producing offspring, we further investigated whether this result was observed because multiple mating provided genetically compatible sperm or because it provided sufficient sperm. Viability of larvae from multiply mated females was higher than that of larvae from singly mated females, but the total number of adult offspring produced was not significantly different between the two groups. The capacity of males to inseminate females decreased in successive matings after the initial copulation, suggesting that ineffective copulations between virgin females and nonvirgin males are likely due to male sperm depletion. Therefore, mating with multiple males increased the probability that females would produce offspring and served as fertility assurance.

scholarly journals Polyandry enhances offspring survival in an infanticidal species

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Klemme ◽  
Hannu Ylönen
Keyword(s):  
Mating Systems ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Myodes Glareolus ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Bank Voles ◽  
Female Counterstrategy ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Genetic Fitness

The adaptive significance of polyandry is an intensely debated subject in sexual selection. For species with male infanticidal behaviour, it has been hypothesized that polyandry evolved as female counterstrategy to offspring loss: by mating with multiple males, females may conceal paternity and so prevent males from killing putative offspring. Here we present, to our knowledge, the first empirical test of this hypothesis in a combined laboratory and field study, and show that multiple mating seems to reduce the risk of infanticide in female bank voles Myodes glareolus . Our findings thus indicate that females of species with non-resource based mating systems, in which males provide nothing but sperm, but commit infanticide, can gain non-genetic fitness benefits from polyandry.

scholarly journals Sublethal Exposure to Phosphine Decreases Offspring Production in Strongly Phosphine Resistant Female Red Flour Beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. e53356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Ridley ◽  
Seymour Magabe ◽  
David I. Schlipalius ◽  
Michelle A. Rafter ◽  
Patrick J. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Tribolium Castaneum ◽  
Sublethal Exposure ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Flour Beetles ◽  
Red Flour Beetles

EFFECTS OF SUB-LETHAL EXPOSURES TO MALATHION OR CHLORPYRIFOS-METHYL ON OFFSPRING PRODUCTION BY SOME STORED-PRODUCT BEETLES

1990 ◽  
Vol 122 (6) ◽  
pp. 1187-1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.D.G. White ◽  
R.N. Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Tribolium Castaneum ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Female Survivors ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Flour Beetles ◽  
Grain Beetles ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Filter Papers ◽  
Ground Wheat ◽  
Red Flour Beetles

AbstractExposure of adult rusty grain beetles, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), saw-toothed grain beetles, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), and red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), to filter papers treated with the organophosphorus insecticides malathion or chlorpyrifos-methyl often affected offspring production in survivors. Groups of five male and five female survivors were placed on ground wheat at 30°C and C. ferrugineus and O. surinamensis adults produced fewer offspring with prolonged exposure to chlorpyrifos-methyl; malathion had no effect. Tribolium castaneum adults produced significantly more offspring with increasing exposure to both malathion and chlorpyrifos-methyl indicating stimulation of oviposition or a selection for increased fitness in survivors.

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