2015
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0298
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Sexual signalling by females: do unmated females increase their signalling effort?

Abstract: Theory predicts that females should invest least in mate searching when young, but increase their effort with age if they remain unmated. Few studies have examined variation in female sexual signalling. Female Dawson's burrowing bees (Amegilla dawsoni) search for males by signalling their receptivity on emergence, but many leave the emergence site unmated and must attract males at feeding sites. Female bees prevented from mating on emergence had more extreme versions of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles that make… Show more

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Cited by 18 publications
(13 citation statements)
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“…Olfactory signals are also probably critical to animal reproduction, especially among aquatic animals (Johansson & Jones, ), but largely remain cryptic to human researchers. Olfactory cues (particularly pheromones) are known to be used honestly or dishonestly to signal female quality, matedness, age, and other reproductively important factors, especially among lepidopterans, where female pheromones may be used to compete for males in addition to signalling species identity and other important mate information (Johansson & Jones, ); evidence from other insects also exists that chemical production increases with age in unmated females as the risk of mating failure increases (Simmons, ). Thus, depending on the variability with which females acquire mates using pheromones, pheromones may constitute cryptic but genuine ornaments integral to reproduction and under substantial sexual selection in females (Umbers, Symonds & Kokko, ).…”
Section: Precopulatory Sexual Selection Acting On Femalesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Olfactory signals are also probably critical to animal reproduction, especially among aquatic animals (Johansson & Jones, ), but largely remain cryptic to human researchers. Olfactory cues (particularly pheromones) are known to be used honestly or dishonestly to signal female quality, matedness, age, and other reproductively important factors, especially among lepidopterans, where female pheromones may be used to compete for males in addition to signalling species identity and other important mate information (Johansson & Jones, ); evidence from other insects also exists that chemical production increases with age in unmated females as the risk of mating failure increases (Simmons, ). Thus, depending on the variability with which females acquire mates using pheromones, pheromones may constitute cryptic but genuine ornaments integral to reproduction and under substantial sexual selection in females (Umbers, Symonds & Kokko, ).…”
Section: Precopulatory Sexual Selection Acting On Femalesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The nutritional or physiological condition of females interacts with age to influence mating decisions (Wilgers & Hebets, 2012;Toft & Albo, 2015). Old virgin females compensate for ever-accruing risk of FMF with age by either becoming less choosy (Priklopil et al, 2015;Henshaw, 2018), or by increasing investment in mate signaling (de Cock et al, 2014;Simmons, 2015;Umbers et al, 2015). In some cases, physiological age (days before death) has a stronger influence on mating decisions than chronological age (days since emergence) (Ligout et al, 2012).…”
Section: Senescence As the Ultimate Cause Of Fmfmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Females have evolved multiple behavioral adaptations to circumvent FMF (Rhainds, 2010;Lehtonen et al, 2012), most notably indiscriminate behavior of virgin females (low rate of mate rejection, independent of male attributes) relative to mated females (whom are more likely to be choosy and reject male mating attempts) (Kokko & Mappes, 2005). Conversely, aging virgins increase investment in mating activities (signaling or foraging) to counterbalance the ever-increasing risk of lifelong virginity (Lehtonen et al, 2012;de Cock et al, 2014;Simmons, 2015;Umbers et al, 2015). Other adaptations to mitigate FMF include selection of microhabitats most suitable for mate attraction (Rhainds, 2010(Rhainds, , 2015, plasticity in sex role reversal (virgin females becoming the active partner when perceived abundance of males is low) (Lewis & Wang, 1991;Wing, 1991;Gwynne & Lorch, 2013;Westermann et al, 2014;Fritzsche et al, 2016), and agonistic interactions between virgin females for access to males (Rillich et al, 2009;Papadopoulos et al, 2009).…”
Section: Low Risk Of Fmf As An Emergent Property Of Male-female Adaptmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Thus, our data clearly show the paradoxical effects of ageing on pheromone-based sexual attractiveness and reproductive performance. In theory, females increase sexual signalling effort when they remain unmated in response to [6,7]. Our dataset suggests a potential sexual conflict within a pheromone communication system, where females benefit at males' expense through deceptive signals of fertility.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 80%