Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid

Avigliano, Esteban; Scardamaglia, Romina Clara; Gabelli, Fabián M.; Pompilio, Lorena

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.06.005

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…However, it is known that males can discriminate between well-fed and hungry females (Barry et al 2010; Brown et al 2012). Thus, feeding females could be more attractive not because prey-handling makes them less able to attack but because feeding provides a cue to males that females are becoming satiated and therefore less dangerous (Avigliano et al 2016). Our experimental design accounted for this possibility by providing females with equivalent access to large numbers of prey immediately before or during trials.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased male mating success in the presence of prey and rivals in a sexually cannibalistic mantis

Burke

Holwell

2021

Preprint

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Pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism—or cannibalism without mating—is expected to promote the evolution of male strategies that enhance mating success and reduce the risk of cannibalism, such as preferential mating with feeding females. However, sexual selection on male competitiveness may alter male courtship decisions in the face of cannibalism risk. We investigated the effect of prey availability and rival presence on male mating decisions in the highly cannibalistic Springbok mantis, Miomantis caffra. We found that males approached females more rapidly and mated more often in the presence of prey, suggesting that females distracted with foraging may be less of a threat. The presence of a rival also hastened the onset of copulation and led to higher mating success, with very large effects occurring in the presence of both prey and rivals, indicating that intrasexual competition may intensify attraction to foraging females. Taken together, our results suggest that pre-copulatory cannibalism has selected for male preference for foraging females, and that males adjust their mating strategy to both the risk of competition and the threat of cannibalism.LAY SUMMARYDeciding when to approach a mate is critical for male mantises at risk of being cannibalised. A male might do well to pounce when a female is distracted with prey, but what if a nearby male has the same intention? In the Springbok mantis, we show that males mate faster and with greater success when both prey and a rival are present, suggesting that mating decisions depend on the dual threats of cannibalism and competition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased male mating success in the presence of prey and rivals in a sexually cannibalistic mantis

Burke

Holwell

2021

Preprint

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“…Secondary sexual characteristics, such as color, ornaments, dances, songs, and pheromones, often appear in either sex to attract the other and are divergent among species, demonstrating that different animals choose mates based on different criteria. Generally, males are more exaggerated and less choosy than females, and research tends to focus on mate choice by females (female choice); however, there is increasing evidence for male choice ( Avigliano et al, 2016 ; Bloch et al, 2016 ; Utagawa et al, 2016 ) showing the importance of sexual traits in females to trigger the courtship behavior of males.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishment and maintenance of sexual preferences that cause a reproductive isolation between medaka strains in close association

et al. 2017

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Animals choose reproductive partners based on their sexual preferences which are established at a certain time point before, during, or after sexual maturation. The preferences are often divergent within a species, which suppresses gene flow between populations and may promote speciation. There are two strains of medaka (Oryzias latipes) that differ by a single transgene and mate assortatively depending on skin color. Here, we demonstrate that symmetrically biased (mutually exclusive) sexual preferences are (1) gradually established during growth depending on skin color and the color of surrounding fish, (2) strong enough to minimize gene flow between the strains at a population level, and (3) inflexibly retained after sexual maturation, even after weeks of daily mating with partners of the other strain. Thus, these laboratory strains of medaka are under premating isolation with the simplest genomic structure. They provide an empirical platform for assessing the complex and hypothetical mechanisms of speciation by mate choice.

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“…Nevertheless, sexual cannibalism clearly represents, to varying degrees, a mating opportunity cost for males, and diverse traits are thought to have evolved in response to the risk of sexual cannibalism ( Elgar 1992 ). These include sexual dimorphism ( Elgar et al 1990 ; Elgar 1991 ; Fernández-Montraveta et al 2014 ; Anderson and Hebets 2016 ); post copulation thanatosis ( Bilde et al 2006 ); the capacity to distinguish between females according to risk ( Gaskett et al 2004 ; Moskalik and Uetz 2011 ; Xiao et al 2015 ; Avigliano et al 2016 ); laying silk over the female ( Anderson and Hebets 2016 ; Zhang et al 2011 ; but see Trillo et al 2019 ); approaching the female only when she is feeding on a prey item ( Fromhage and Schneider 2005 ); sacrificing legs ( Neumann and Schneider 2020 ); and by copulating with moulting females ( Uhl et al 2015 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Females adopt sexual catalepsy to facilitate mating

Liu

Tang

et al. 2023

Current Zoology

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Theory predicts that males and females of dioecious species typically engage in an evolutionary sexual conflict over the frequency and choice of mating partner. Female sexual cannibalism, a particularly dramatic illustration of this conflict, is widespread in certain animal taxa including spiders. Nevertheless, females of some funnel weaving spiders that are generally aggressive to conspecifics enter a cataleptic state after male courtship, ensuring the males can mate without risk of attack. In this study, we demonstrated that the physical posture and duration, metabolites and central neurotransmitters of females of Aterigena aculeata in sexual catalepsy closely resemble females in thanatosis but are distinct from those in anaesthesia, indicating that the courted females feign death to eliminate the risk of potentially aggressive responses and thereby allow preferred males to mate. Unlike the taxonomically widespread thanatosis, which generally represents a deceptive visual signal that acts against the interest of the receivers, sexual catalepsy of females in the funnel weaving spiders may deliver a sexual-receptive signal to the courting males and thereby benefit both the signal senders and receivers. Therefore, sexual catalepsy in A. aculeata may not reflect a conflict but rather a confluence of interest between the sexes.

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Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid

Cited by 7 publications

References 26 publications

Increased male mating success in the presence of prey and rivals in a sexually cannibalistic mantis

Increased male mating success in the presence of prey and rivals in a sexually cannibalistic mantis

Establishment and maintenance of sexual preferences that cause a reproductive isolation between medaka strains in close association

Females adopt sexual catalepsy to facilitate mating

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