Female teneral mating in a monandrous species

Abstract

Schultesia nitor is a gregarious species living in Cacicus and Psarocolius ssp. pouch-like nests. Due to gregariousness, opportunities for multiple copulations in both sexes are not supposed to be restricted. Females produce only one brood during their life and die within a few days following the birth of their nymphs, but this unique brood could be the result of either single or multiple mating events (i.e., monandry vs. polyandry). In this study, we first determined the age of sexual receptivity of both males and females. Larval development in this species is shorter in males than in females and thus, this species is protandric. Males were not able to copulate the day after emergence. Contrary to males, teneral females (i.e., females achieving their imaginal molt but not yet fully sclerotised and colored) were attractive and were able to mate with males. In the second experiment, we tested the existence of multiple matings in both sexes. Our results showed that females were monandrous whereas males were polygynous. Since we had observed that females were monoandrous, we expected them to be choosy and we determined their ability to discriminate between virgin and nonvirgin males. When given the choice, females preferred virgin males and overall, they were more successful at mating than experienced ones. Our results suggest that monandry may be primarily driven by the female’s short life-span fecundity. The occurrence of teneral mating in this species calls into question the existence of a male strategy for monopolizing females, and as well as the implication of female choice. Although further work is required, this species provides an interesting model for understanding sexual conflicts.

Courtship and Mating Behavior of the Cockroach Oxyhaloa deusta [Thunberg, 1784] (Blaberidae, Oxyhaloinae): Attraction Bioassays and Morphology of the Pheromone Sources

“…Males of O. deusta were observed courting teneral females just after emergence (see ESM1.). This postemergence attractiveness of females seems common in Blaberidae species and has been previously observed in Diploptera punctata [Eschscholtz, 1822] (Roth and Willis 1955;Stay and Roth 1958), J. madecassa (Sreng 1993) and Schultesia nitor [Grandcolas, 1991] (Monceau and van Baaren 2012). In their study, Monceau and van Baaren (2012) allude to the female-like sexappeal characteristic of exuvia products (but see also Roth and Willis 1952;Schal and Bell 1983).…”

Mating advantage of short-winged over long-winged adult males in the cricket Velarifictorus ornatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

“…2). Females mating with virgin males may obtain larger spermatophores and more sperm to fertilize their eggs resulting in greater fecundity (Jiménez-Pérez & Wang, 2004;King & Fischer, 2009) and therefore females preferentially mate with virgin males (Monceau & van Baaren, 2012;Muller et al, 2016). The weight of spermatophore obtained by mating with experienced males is lighter than that obtained from virgin males (Zhao et al, 2016).…”

Biological and Mechanical Transmission Models of Dengue Fever

“…It has been reported that the Aedes aegypti prefers to bite more than one person during the feeding period [7]. The multiple feeding has been recognized as: (1) supplementary feeding because of nutritional reserves depletion of in teneral female (i.e., achieving specific characteristic that female mosquito was attractive and was able to mate with males) and (2) host reflex movements or interrupted feeding owing mainly to host defense [18], [19], [20]. So it allows mosquitoes to bite several hosts in their environment until satiated.…”