Dual function of seminal substances for mate guarding in a ground beetle

Insect Seminal Fluid Proteins: Identification and Function

“…There is growing evidence that SFPs have important effects on female post-mating behavior in lady bird beetles (107, 108), seed beetles (109–111), and ground beetles (112). Injection of testis extracts reduces the probability of mating at 3 hrs and 2 days after injection, whereas injections of AG extracts reduces the probability of mating only at 2 days after injection.…”

Sexual Conflict and Sperm Competition

“…Copulatory plugs are found in many taxa (e.g., Lung and Wolfner 2001;Dixson and Anderson 2002;Moreira and Birkhead 2004;Ramm et al 2005) and can prevent or delay female remating (e.g., Takami et al 2008) or facilitate sperm transport within the female reproductive tract (e.g., Dean 2013). Copulatory plugs are often derived from the nonsperm portion of the ejaculate, although the male genitalia themselves can also act as plugs (e.g., Herberstein et al 2012).…”

“…Plugs can be costly to females if they prevent remating but they can also prevent females from using or storing sperm efficiently. There is indirect evidence that females find copulatory plugs costly to some extent as they are often removed shortly after copulation (e.g., Takami et al 2008) and females can produce proteases that degrade the…”

Sexual Conflict in Nonhuman Primates

“…(2) like seminal proteins generally, decelerating rival sperm (Kingan, Tatar, & Rand, 2003); (3) hormonally inducing a refractory period in females (Takami, Sasabe, Nagata, & Sota, 2008); and (4) suppressing the destructive female immunological response to "foreign" sperm (Pitnick, Wolfner, & Suarez, 2009;Poiani, 2006). Comparative data also suggest potential functions that have not been rigorously considered in primates, such as scent-marking females and maintaining male status (Moreira, López, & Martín, 2006).…”