Prolonged copulation and the internal dynamics of sperm transfer in the water strider Aquarius remigis

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (10) ◽  
pp. 1801-1812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronique Campbell ◽  
Daphne J Fairbairn

Copulations lasting much longer than required to effect insemination are common throughout the Insecta, but their adaptive significance remains obscure. We address the hypothesis that prolonged copulations benefit male Aquarius remigis (Hemiptera, Gerridae) by influencing sperm use and storage following insemination. We describe the gynatrial complex of females and document sperm location immediately following 32 naturally terminated and 25 artificially terminated copulations. We also examine sperm storage in 22 females isolated from males for 2–10 days. Our results demonstrate that insemination occurs at the end of copulation, and therefore that prolonged copulation is not a post-insemination mate-guarding tactic, as was previously assumed. Sperm are transferred in a coherent, coiled mass and move rapidly to the spermathecal tube, the primary storage organ. However, a few sperm move directly to the fecundation canal and hence should be capable of immediate fertilization. Prolonged copulation is associated with increased filling of the spermathecal tube, which may indicate some form of copulatory courtship or sperm loading by males during the prolonged pre-insemination phase. We discuss this new interpretation of prolonged copulation in A. remigis in the context of the overall costs and benefits of prolonged copulation for both sexes under the natural conditions of polygynandry.

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200062
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons ◽  
Geoff A. Parker ◽  
David J. Hosken

Studies of the yellow dungfly in the 1960s provided one of the first quantitative demonstrations of the costs and benefits associated with male and female reproductive behaviour. These studies advanced appreciation of sexual selection as a significant evolutionary mechanism and contributed to the 1970s paradigm shift toward individual selectionist thinking. Three behaviours in particular led to the realization that sexual selection can continue during and after mating: (i) female receptivity to remating, (ii) sperm displacement and (iii) post-copulatory mate guarding. These behaviours either generate, or are adaptations to sperm competition, cryptic female choice and sexual conflict. Here we review this body of work, and its contribution to the development of post-copulatory sexual selection theory. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.


Author(s):  
María Janampa-Santome ◽  
Ernesto Gianoli ◽  
Alejandra Lozano-Canales ◽  
Wilfredo Gonzáles

Nature ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 478 (7367) ◽  
pp. 119-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Navarro ◽  
José A. Abelenda ◽  
Eduard Cruz-Oró ◽  
Carlos A. Cuéllar ◽  
Shojiro Tamaki ◽  
...  

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