scholarly journals Sperm removal during copulation confirmed in the oldest extant damselfly,Hemiphlebia mirabilis

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo Cordero-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Body Position ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Scramble Competition ◽  
Stage I ◽  
Female Genitalia ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Male Genital

Postcopulatory sexual selection may favour mechanisms to reduce sperm competition, like physical sperm removal by males. To investigate the origin of sperm removal, I studied the reproductive behaviour and mechanisms of sperm competition in the only living member of the oldest damselfly family,Hemiphlebia mirabilis, one species that was considered extinct in the 1980s. This species displays scramble competition behaviour. Males search for females with short flights and both sexes exhibit a conspicuous “abdominal flicking”. This behaviour is used by males during an elaborate precopulatory courtship, unique among Odonata. Females use a similar display to reject male attempts to form tandem, but eventually signal receptivity by a particular body position. Males immobilise females during courtship using their legs, which, contrarily to other damselflies, never autotomise. Copulation is short (range 4.1–18.7 min), and occurs in two sequential stages. In the first stage, males remove part of the stored sperm, and inseminate during the second stage, at the end of mating. The male genital ligula matches the size and form of female genitalia, and ends by two horns covered by back-oriented spines. The volume of sperm in females before copulation was 2.7 times larger than the volume stored in females whose copulation was interrupted at the end of stage I, indicative of a significant sperm removal. These results point out that sperm removal is an old character in the evolution of odonates, possibly dating back to the Permian.

scholarly journals Sperm removal during copulation confirmed in the oldest extant damselfly, Hemiphlebia mirabilis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo Cordero-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Body Position ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Scramble Competition ◽  
Stage I ◽  
Female Genitalia ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Two Stages

Postcopulatory sexual selection may favour mechanisms to reduce sperm competition, like physical sperm removal by males. To investigate the origin of sperm removal, I studied the reproductive behaviour and mechanisms of sperm competition in the only living member of the oldest damselfly family, Hemiphlebia mirabilis, one species that was considered extinct in the 1980s. This species displays scramble competition behaviour, whose males search for females with short flights and both sexes exhibit a conspicuous “abdominal flicking”. This behaviour is used by males during an elaborate precopulatory courtship, unique among the Odonata. Females use a similar display to reject male attempts to form tandem, but eventually signal receptivity by a particular body position. Males immobilise females during courtship using their legs, which, contrarily to other damselflies, never autotomize. Copulation is short (range 4.1-18.7 min), and has two stages. In the first stage, males remove part of the stored sperm, and inseminate during the second stage, at the end of mating. The examination of genitalia indicates that males have two horns covered by back-oriented spines, which match the size and form of female genitalia. The volume of sperm in females after copulation was 2.8 times larger than the volume stored in females whose copulation was interrupted at the end of stage I, indicative of a significant sperm removal. These results point out that sperm removal is an old character in the evolution of odonates, probably dating back to the Permian.

scholarly journals Sperm removal during copulation confirmed in the oldest extant damselfly, Hemiphlebia mirabilis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo Cordero-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Body Position ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Scramble Competition ◽  
Stage I ◽  
Female Genitalia ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Two Stages

Postcopulatory sexual selection may favour mechanisms to reduce sperm competition, like physical sperm removal by males. To investigate the origin of sperm removal, I studied the reproductive behaviour and mechanisms of sperm competition in the only living member of the oldest damselfly family, Hemiphlebia mirabilis, one species that was considered extinct in the 1980s. This species displays scramble competition behaviour, whose males search for females with short flights and both sexes exhibit a conspicuous “abdominal flicking”. This behaviour is used by males during an elaborate precopulatory courtship, unique among the Odonata. Females use a similar display to reject male attempts to form tandem, but eventually signal receptivity by a particular body position. Males immobilise females during courtship using their legs, which, contrarily to other damselflies, never autotomize. Copulation is short (range 4.1-18.7 min), and has two stages. In the first stage, males remove part of the stored sperm, and inseminate during the second stage, at the end of mating. The examination of genitalia indicates that males have two horns covered by back-oriented spines, which match the size and form of female genitalia. The volume of sperm in females after copulation was 2.8 times larger than the volume stored in females whose copulation was interrupted at the end of stage I, indicative of a significant sperm removal. These results point out that sperm removal is an old character in the evolution of odonates, probably dating back to the Permian.

scholarly journals Evolutionary insight from a humble fly: sperm competition and the yellow dungfly

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200062
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons ◽  
Geoff A. Parker ◽  
David J. Hosken
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
The 1960S

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’.

scholarly journals Gamete-mediated mate choice: towards a more inclusive view of sexual selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1883) ◽  
pp. 20180836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Kekäläinen ◽  
Jonathan P. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Random Interactions ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
The Everyday

‘Sperm competition’—where ejaculates from two or more males compete for fertilization—and ‘cryptic female choice’—where females bias this contest to suit their reproductive interests—are now part of the everyday lexicon of sexual selection. Yet the physiological processes that underlie these post-ejaculatory episodes of sexual selection remain largely enigmatic. In this review, we focus on a range of post-ejaculatory cellular- and molecular-level processes, known to be fundamental for fertilization across most (if not all) sexually reproducing species, and point to their putative role in facilitating sexual selection at the level of the cells and gametes, called ‘gamete-mediated mate choice’ (GMMC). In this way, we collate accumulated evidence for GMMC across different mating systems, and emphasize the evolutionary significance of such non-random interactions among gametes. Our overall aim in this review is to build a more inclusive view of sexual selection by showing that mate choice often acts in more nuanced ways than has traditionally been assumed. We also aim to bridge the conceptual divide between proximal mechanisms of reproduction, and adaptive explanations for patterns of non-random sperm–egg interactions that are emerging across an increasingly diverse array of taxa.

Post-Copulatory Sexual Selection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia L.R. Brennan ◽  
Dara N. Orbach
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Seminal Fluid ◽  
Fertilization Success ◽  
Female Reproductive Tract ◽  
Cryptic Female Choice ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Morphological Criteria

The field of post-copulatory sexual selection investigates how female and male adaptations have evolved to influence the fertilization of eggs while optimizing fitness during and after copulation, when females mate with multiple males. When females are polyandrous (one female mates with multiple males), they may optimize their mating rate and control the outcome of mating interactions to acquire direct and indirect benefits. Polyandry may also favor the evolution of male traits that offer an advantage in post-copulatory male-male sperm competition. Sperm competition occurs when the sperm, seminal fluid, and/or genitalia of one male directly impacts the outcome of fertilization success of a rival male. When a female mates with multiple males, she may use information from a number of traits to choose who will sire her offspring. This cryptic female choice (CFC) to bias paternity can be based on behavioral, physiological, and morphological criteria (e.g., copulatory courtship, volume and/or composition of seminal fluid, shape of grasping appendages). Because male fitness interests are rarely perfectly aligned with female fitness interests, sexual conflict over mating and fertilization commonly occur during copulatory and post-copulatory interactions. Post-copulatory interactions inherently involve close associations between female and male reproductive characteristics, which in many species potentially include sperm storage and sperm movement inside the female reproductive tract, and highlight the intricate coevolution between the sexes. This coevolution is also common in genital morphology. The great diversity of genitalia among species is attributed to sexual selection. The evolution of genital attributes that allow females to maintain reproductive autonomy over paternity via cryptic female choice or that prevent male manipulation and sexual control via sexually antagonistic coevolution have been well documented. Additionally, cases where genitalia evolve through intrasexual competition are well known. Another important area of study in post-copulatory sexual selection is the examination of trade-offs between investments in pre-copulatory and post-copulatory traits, since organisms have limited energetic resources to allocate to reproduction, and securing both mating and fertilization is essential for reproductive success.

scholarly journals A LIFE-HISTORY PERSPECTIVE ON SEXUAL SELECTION IN A POLYGAMOUS SPECIES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gao Ke ◽  
Michiel van Wijk ◽  
Zoe Clement ◽  
Martijn Egas ◽  
Astrid Groot
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Quadratic Model ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Bateman Gradient ◽  
Multiple Matings ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract Background Ever since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have studied sexual selection driving differences in appearance and behaviour between males and females. An unchallenged paradigm in such studies is that one sex (usually the male) signals its quality as a mate to the other sex (usually the female), who is choosy in accepting a partner. Here, we argue that in polygamous species these roles may change dynamically with the mating status of males and females, depending on direct reproductive costs and benefits of multiple matings, and on sperm competition. We test this hypothesis using a polygamous moth species, as in moths not males but females are the signalers and males are the responders. Results We found that multiple matings are beneficial as well as costly for both sexes. Specifically, the number of matings did not affect the longevity of males or females, but when paired with a new virgin mate every night for five nights, only 67% of the males and 14% of the females mated successfully in all five nights. The female’s reproductive output increased with multiple matings, although when paired with a new virgin male every night, additional matings beyond 3 decreased her reproductive output, so that the Bateman gradient for females fit a quadratic model better than a linear model. The male’s reproductive success was positively affected by the number of matings and a linear regression line best fit the data. Simulations of the effect of sperm competition showed that increasing last-male paternity increases the steepness of the male Bateman gradient and thus the male’s relative fitness gain from additional mating. Irrespective of last-male paternity value, the female Bateman gradient is steeper than the male one for up to three matings. Conclusion Our results suggest that choosiness in moths may well change throughout the mating season, with males being more choosy early in the season and females being more choosy after having mated at least three times. This life-history perspective on the costs and benefits of multiple matings for both sexes sheds new light on sexual selection forces acting on sexual signals and responses.

scholarly journals Breeding behaviour of the Coromandel Damselfly Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius) (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) in central India: copulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 12203
Author(s):  
Nilesh R. Thaokar ◽  
Payal R. Verma ◽  
Raymond J. Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Abdominal Segment ◽  
Central India ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Copulation Duration ◽  
Mate Location ◽  
Courtship Display ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Bright Yellow ◽  
Two Stages

The Coromandel Damselfly Ceriagrion coromandelianum can be easily identified because of its bright yellow abdomen, greenish thorax and eyes.  In females, the abdomen is darker with light brown colouration extending to dark brown towards the terminal end.  The documentation of the reproductive behaviour of Ceriagrion coromandelianum was carried out at the botanical garden of Hislop College, Nagpur, India.  The males of C. coromandelianum arrive early in the morning by 07:00hr at the ovipositing site.  They belong to “sit and wait” type of mate-location.  While perched and waiting for the female to arrive they at times exhibit abdominal bobbing, and oviposition posture.  The territorial area of male C. coromandelianum is very small, within a range of about 45cm around his perch.  There is no precopulatory courtship display and the male move toward the arriving receptive female and directly tries to form a tandem link.  The other males of the group follow the pair.  The tandem pair flies towards the safety of the surrounding vegetation to copulate. Before copulation, the male fills his penis vesicle with sperm material by the process of “intra male sperm translocation” which lasts for 30±8 seconds.  The female curves her abdomen ventrally forward so that her gonopore which is located between the eighth and ninth sternite comes to lie before the secondary copulatory apparatus of the male and forms a strong genital link, to form the copulatory wheel.  The copulation duration can be long (34–55 min) or short (12–15 min).  Two stages of copulation depending upon the pumping movement of the couple can be differentiated.  During the first stage, the male rhythmically and forcefully depresses and stretches the first two abdominal segments, vigorously pumping the penis inside the female vagina which accounts for 72% of the copulation duration.  The second stage starts with rapid short thrusting movement which are not forceful but exhibit shallow movements of the first two abdominal segment of the male.  The tandem pairs after copulation may directly move for oviposition or settle around the surrounding foliage and exhibit “post-copulatory resting” (PCR) behaviour.  It is noted that 23.3% females immediately commence oviposition, 53.4% exhibit brief, while 23.3% display prolonged PCR behaviour.  

scholarly journals Evidence and Significance of Self-pollination of Avocados in Florida

1994 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 1200-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Davenport ◽  
Petra Parnitzki ◽  
Sabine Fricke ◽  
Melanie S. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Persea Americana ◽  
Stage I ◽  
Stage Ii ◽  
First Year ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Flying Insects ◽  
Self Pollination ◽  
Flowering Season ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Second Year

Pollination was investigated in five avocado (Persea americana Mill.) cultivars during two seasons. In the first year, `Simmonds' and `Hardee' branches with inflorescences were covered with cheesecloth bags to prevent pollination by large flying insects during either or both the first (Stage I) and second (Stage II) floral openings. Adjacent, tagged branches were left open as controls. The proportion of pollinated Stage I flowers ranged from <1% in `Simmonds' to 9% in `Hardee.' Pollination rates in Stage II ranged from 15% in `Simmonds' to nearly 69% in `Hardee'. Pollination during Stage II was proportional to the number of white stigmas available during that stage. Stage II pollination rates for bagged flowers and open flowers were similar, even though large flying insects were barred from bagged flowers. In the second year, similar experiments on cultivars Simmonds, Tonnage, Tower 2, and Choquette provided results consistent with those obtained the previous year. Virtually no pollination occurred in bagged Stage I flowers in all cultivars tested, and ≈1% of the open Stage I flowers were pollinated. Pollination of bagged and open Stage II flowers was generally the same within cultivars. The percent pollination of Stage II flowers ranged from a mean of 4.3% to 35%, depending on cultivar. The results show that self-pollination during the Stage II floral opening is the primary means of pollination of commercial cultivars grown in Florida. Moreover, the presence of developing fruits on branches bagged during the flowering season demonstrated that fruit set can occur without pollination by large flying insects.

Sperm Competition, Sexual Selection and Different Routes to Fitness

1998 ◽  
pp. 757-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.R. Birkhead ◽  
A.P. Møller
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition
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