Female bushcrickets fuel their metabolism with male nuptial gifts

Voigt, Christian C.; Kretzschmar, Antje; Speakman, John R.; Lehmann, Gerlind U. C.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0282

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Effects of from nuptial gifts on fecundity and hatching success are well-known in some insects [10, 16]. When females receive nutritive gifts their net food intake increases and they can use it in their own metabolism as well as in egg production [50, 51]. Preliminary results verify that the food acquired from the nuptial gifts can be distributed into somatic and reproductive tissues in P. ornata , mostly incorporated into eggs and silk of the eggsac (Costa-Schmidt unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Females of a gift-giving spider do not trade sex for food gifts: a consequence of male deception?

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundPolyandry is commonly maintained by direct benefits in gift-giving species, so females may remate as an adaptive foraging strategy. However, the assumption of a direct benefit fades in mating systems where male gift-giving behaviour has evolved from offering nutritive to worthless (non-nutritive) items. In the spider Paratrechalea ornata, 70% of gifts in nature are worthless. We therefore predicted female receptivity to be independent of hunger in this species. We exposed poorly-fed and well-fed females to multiple males offering nutritive gifts and well-fed females to males offering worthless gifts.ResultsThough the treatments strongly affected fecundity, females of all groups had similar number of matings. This confirms that female receptivity is independent of their nutritional state, i.e. polyandry does not prevail as a foraging strategy.ConclusionsIn the spider Pisaura mirabilis, in which the majority (62%) of gifts in nature are nutritive, female receptivity depends on hunger. We therefore propose that the dependence of female receptivity on hunger state may have evolved in species with predominantly nutritive gifts but is absent in species with predominantly worthless gifts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0953-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Females of a gift-giving spider do not trade sex for food gifts: a consequence of male deception?

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In support of this, the number of spermatophylaces consumed by female G. sigillatus has been found to have no effect on the number of eggs produced ( Will & Sakaluk 1994;Kusaya & Sato 1998), although Kusayo & Sato (1998) did find that the rate of oviposition appeared to be increased by spermatophylax consumption in this species. Spermatophylax amino acids might, however, be used by the female as an energy source ( Voigt et al 2008) and the water content of the spermatophylax may provide benefits to the female at times of extreme water stress (Ivy et al 1999). Heller et al (1998) proposed that the high level of glycine present in the spermatophylax could indicate the presence of elastin-like structural proteins that increase the gummy consistency of the spermatophylax.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free amino acids as phagostimulants in cricket nuptial gifts: support for the ‘Candymaker’ hypothesis

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nuptial gifts that are manufactured by the male are found in numerous insect species and some spiders, but there have been very few studies of the composition of such gifts. If, as has been proposed recently, nuptial gifts represent sensory traps, males will be selected to produce gifts that are attractive to females but such gifts will not necessarily provide the female with nutritional benefits (the ‘Candymaker’ hypothesis). We examined the free amino acid content of the spermatophylax of the cricket Gryllodes sigillatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The spermatophylax (dry weight) consisted of approximately 7 per cent free amino acids. The free amino acid composition was highly imbalanced, with a low proportion of essential amino acids (18.7%) and a high proportion of proline and glycine. The main free amino acids found in the spermatophylax appeared to act as phagostimulants: the duration of feeding on artificial gels by females was positively related to the free amino acid content of the gels. The results therefore suggest that males use free amino acids to ‘sweeten’ a relatively low-value food item. A possible function of glycine in inhibiting female movement is also proposed.

show abstract

“…It has been shown that in the long-term females allocate spermatophore nutrients to either egg production or body synthesis [66,101,122,123]. By tracking stable carbon isotope ratios of female breath, Voigt et al [124] found that the exhaled gas quickly converged on the ratio of the male donor, which were either enriched or depleted in 13 C. This supports the idea that females can route nutrients to metabolism instead of egg production, according to their own and immediate needs without direct benefits for the male donor. Females of the obligate parthenogenetic Poecilimon intermedius mate with heterospecific males and subsequently feed on the nuptial gift, without changing the number or the hatching success of eggs [125].…”

Section: Costs and Benefits Of Nuptial Feeding For Bushcricket Femalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weighing costs and benefits of mating in bushcrickets (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), with an emphasis on nuptial gifts, protandry and mate density

Lehmann

2012

Front Zool

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sexual selection is a major force driving evolution and is intertwined with ecological factors. Differential allocation of limited resources has a central role in the cost of reproduction. In this paper, I review the costs and benefits of mating in tettigoniids, focussing on nuptial gifts, their trade-off with male calling songs, protandry and how mate density influences mate choice. Tettigoniids have been widely used as model systems for studies of mating costs and benefits; they can provide useful general insights. The production and exchange of large nuptial gifts by males for mating is an important reproductive strategy in tettigoniids. As predicted by sexual selection theory spermatophylax size is condition dependent and is constrained by the need to invest in calling to attract mates also. Under some circumstances, females benefit directly from the nuptial gifts by an increase in reproductive output. However, compounds in the nuptial gift can also benefit the male by prolonging the period before the female remates. There is also a trade-off between adult male maturation and mating success. Where males mature before females (protandry) the level of protandry varies in the direction predicted by sperm competition theory; namely, early male maturation is correlated with a high level of first inseminations being reproductively successful. Lastly, mate density in bushcrickets is an important environmental factor influencing the behavioural decisions of individuals. Where mates are abundant, individuals are more choosey of mates; when they are scarce, individuals are less choosey. This review reinforces the view that tettigoniids provide excellent models to test and understand the economics of matings in both sexes.

show abstract

Female bushcrickets fuel their metabolism with male nuptial gifts

Cited by 28 publications

References 25 publications

Females of a gift-giving spider do not trade sex for food gifts: a consequence of male deception?

Females of a gift-giving spider do not trade sex for food gifts: a consequence of male deception?

Free amino acids as phagostimulants in cricket nuptial gifts: support for the ‘Candymaker’ hypothesis

Weighing costs and benefits of mating in bushcrickets (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), with an emphasis on nuptial gifts, protandry and mate density

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About