Combining predictions of sex ratio and mate choice models: pheromone-mediated mate choice by females in a parasitoid wasp

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (11) ◽  
pp. 1127-1149
Author(s):  
T.N. Wittman ◽  
B.H. King
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Production Potential ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Male Signals

Abstract In haplodiploid species, daughter production, but not son production, is sexual, requiring paternal contributions. Females may use male signals to choose a mate with better daughter-production potential, if the choice facilitates her production of adaptive sex ratios, e.g., female-biased sex ratios in systems operating under local mate competition (LMC). In the parasitoid wasp Urolepis rufipes, females preferred pheromone markings from males that had mated once versus multiply, were young rather than old, and were uninfected rather than infected when infection was low, but not when infection was high. Mates of singly-mated males had more female-biased offspring sex ratios than those of multiply-mated males, whereas there was no difference for mates of young versus old males. Thus, female preference for singly-mated males appears to provide indirect fitness benefits. A preference for young males, was not beneficial in the laboratory, but in nature young males may have mated less.

scholarly journals Solving the sex ratio scandal in Melittobia wasps

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Abe ◽  
Ryosuke Iritani ◽  
Koji Tsuchida ◽  
Yoshitaka Kamimura ◽  
Stuart A. West
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Local Mate Competition ◽  
Mate Competition ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate ◽  
Close Relatives

AbstractThe scandalous sex ratio behaviour of Melittobia wasps has long posed one of the greatest problems for the field of sex allocation. In contrast to the predictions of theory, and the behaviour of numerous other organisms, laboratory experiments have found that Melittobia females do not produce less female-biased offspring sex ratios when more females lay eggs on a patch. We resolve this scandal, by showing that, in nature, females of M. australica have sophisticated sex ratio behaviour, where their strategy also depends upon whether they have dispersed from the patch where they emerged. When females have not dispersed, they will be laying eggs with close relatives, which keeps local mate competition high, even with multiple females, and so they are selected to produce consistently female-biased sex ratios. Laboratory experiments mimic these conditions. In contrast, when females disperse, they will be interacting with non-relatives, and so they adjust their sex ratio depending upon the number of females laying eggs. Consequently, females appear to use dispersal status as an indirect cue of relatedness, and whether they should adjust their sex ratio in response to the number of females laying eggs on the patch.

scholarly journals Offspring sex ratio shifts of the solitary parasitoid wasp, Trichopria drosophilae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae), under local mate competition

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Cheng-Jie Zhu ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
Hao-Yuan Hu
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Mate Competition ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Pupal Parasitoid ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate ◽  
Solitary Parasitoid ◽  
Single Foundress

Localmate competition (LMC) models predict a female-biased offspring sex ratio when a single foundress oviposits alone in a patch and an increasing proportion of sons with increasing foundress number. We tested whether the solitary pupal parasitoid, Trichopria drosophilae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae), adjusted offspring sex ratio with foundress number when parasitizing Drosophila melanogaster pupae. Mean number of female offspring was higher than that of males, with a male proportion of 26 ± 16% when only one foundress oviposited. However, male proportion reached 58 ± 26%, 48 ± 22%, and 51 ± 19% in three-, five and seven-foundress cohorts. That the male proportion of offspring increased with foundress number is consistent with LMC models.

scholarly journals A sex allocation cost to polyandry in a parasitoid wasp

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 20150205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca A. Boulton ◽  
David M. Shuker
Keyword(s):  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Laboratory Culture ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
In The Wild

The costs and benefits of polyandry are central to understanding the near-ubiquity of female multiple mating. Here, we present evidence of a novel cost of polyandry: disrupted sex allocation. In Nasonia vitripennis , a species that is monandrous in the wild but engages in polyandry under laboratory culture conditions, sexual harassment during oviposition results in increased production of sons under conditions that favour female-biased sex ratios. In addition, females more likely to re-mate under harassment produce the least female-biased sex ratios, and these females are unable to mitigate this cost by increasing offspring production. Our results therefore argue that polyandry does not serve to mitigate the costs of harassment (convenience polyandry) in Nasonia . Furthermore, because males benefit from female-biased offspring sex ratios, harassment of ovipositing females also creates a novel cost of that harassment for males.

scholarly journals Age-Dependent Constraints of Sex Allocation in a Parasitoid Wasp

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takatoshi Ueno
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Maternal Control ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Physiological Constraints ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Control Failure

The offspring sex ratios of parasitoid wasps often depend on the age of ovipositing females. Physiological constraints such as sperm depletion and senescence are a likely cause. Also, maternal control in response to female age may be an alternative explanation. Here valvifer or abdominal tip movements were used to assess whether age-dependent sex ratio was due to physiological constraints or maternal control with an ichneumonid wasp,Pimpla nipponica; the offspring sex ratio at the time of wasp emergence was compared with the sex ratio predicted from abdominal tip movements. When the female was relatively young, there was little difference between the sex ratios examined. However, as the age of the females increased, the realized offspring sex ratio at wasp emergence was more male-biased than the sex ratio predicted at the time of oviposition. Thus, there was an inconsistency between the sex ratios. Curiously, the predictions of continuous movements for male egg deposition were always perfect, regardless of maternal age; fertilization control failure was detected when the females had decided to lay female eggs. Thus, physiological constraints are a likely explanation for the inconsistency in relation to female age forP. nipponica.

scholarly journals A solution to a sex ratio puzzle in Melittobia wasps

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2024656118
Author(s):  
Jun Abe ◽  
Ryosuke Iritani ◽  
Koji Tsuchida ◽  
Yoshitaka Kamimura ◽  
Stuart A. West
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Local Mate Competition ◽  
Mate Competition ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate ◽  
Close Relatives

The puzzling sex ratio behavior of Melittobia wasps has long posed one of the greatest questions in the field of sex allocation. Laboratory experiments have found that, in contrast to the predictions of theory and the behavior of numerous other organisms, Melittobia females do not produce fewer female-biased offspring sex ratios when more females lay eggs on a patch. We solve this puzzle by showing that, in nature, females of Melittobia australica have a sophisticated sex ratio behavior, in which their strategy also depends on whether they have dispersed from the patch where they emerged. When females have not dispersed, they lay eggs with close relatives, which keeps local mate competition high even with multiple females, and therefore, they are selected to produce consistently female-biased sex ratios. Laboratory experiments mimic these conditions. In contrast, when females disperse, they interact with nonrelatives, and thus adjust their sex ratio depending on the number of females laying eggs. Consequently, females appear to use dispersal status as an indirect cue of relatedness and whether they should adjust their sex ratio in response to the number of females laying eggs on the patch.

scholarly journals Transgenerational cues about local mate competition affect offspring sex ratios in the spider mite Tetranychus urticae

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison B. Duncan ◽  
Cassandra Marinosci ◽  
Céline Devaux ◽  
Sophie Lefèvre ◽  
Sara Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Tetranychus Urticae ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Spider Mite ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Mate Competition ◽  
Maternal Environment ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate

ABSTRACTThis preprint has been reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology (https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100051). In structured populations, competition for mates between closely related males, termed Local Mate Competition (LMC), is expected to select for female-biased offspring sex ratios. However, the cues underlying sex allocation decisions remain poorly studied. Here, we test for several cues in the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, a species that was previously found to adjust the sex ratio of its offspring in response to the number of females within the local population, i.e. a patch. We here investigate whether the offspring sex ratio of T. urticae females changes in response to 1) the current number of females in the same patch, 2) the number of females in the patches of their mothers and 3) their relatedness to their mate. Single females on patches produced similar sex ratios to those of groups of 15 females; their mothers had been in identical conditions of panmixia. The offspring sex ratios of females mated with their brother did not differ from those of females mated with an unrelated male. Females however produced a more female-biased offspring sex ratio if their mothers were alone on a patch compared to 15 other females. Thus, maternal environment is used as a cue for the sex allocation of daughters. We discuss the conditions under which the maternal environment may be a reliable predictor of LMC experienced by grand-sons.

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