Strategic ejaculation in simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails: more sperm into virgin mates

Kimura, Kazuki; Chiba, Satoshi

doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-264

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…This may be because compared to female investment, male investment represents a smaller toll to pay for snails (<5% of the reproductive energy allocation in the related helicid snail Arianta arbustorum after up to three matings; Locher & Baur, 2000; see also Table 1). However, this point should be nuanced, as accessory male gland products (Chase & Blanchard, 2006) or changes in mate characteristics or availability (Locher & Baur, 2000;Kimura & Chiba, 2013) might increase overall male investment. Alternately, the relationship between penis complex mass and actual male investment might be too indirect (Garefalaki et al, 2010) for the former to have a statistical effect on movement.…”

Section: Phenotypic Correlates Of Movement Propensity Help Explain Vamentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential syndromes linking dispersal and reproduction in the hermaphrodite land snail Cornu aspersum

Dahirel

Ansart²,

Mathieu

2016

Journal of Zoology

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Dispersal plays a key role in many ecological and evolutionary processes, in particular through correlations, or syndromes, with other life-history traits. Here, we investigated the potential syndromes linking movement behaviour, body mass and male and female sexual organs development, to explain a previously described subadult dispersal pattern in the hermaphrodite land snail Cornu aspersum. We found elements indicating that this snail may not strictly be a simultaneous hermaphrodite, but presents a male-biased phase before reaching adulthood and hermaphroditism. Body mass was positively correlated with both patch-leaving propensity and movement speed. However, because the dry mass of the female albumen gland, which represents on average in adults masses equivalent to 42.6% of somatic soft tissues dry mass, was negatively correlated with patch-leaving propensity, snails of intermediate age are expected to be more likely to leave than older ones. No relationship between male organ size and movement characteristics was found. We discuss briefly the interesting consequences the existence of a syndrome linking movement propensity with female investment in a protandric hermaphrodite species might have in terms of life-history evolution and on the maintenance of hermaphroditism in dispersal-favouring environments.

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Section: Phenotypic Correlates Of Movement Propensity Help Explain Vamentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential syndromes linking dispersal and reproduction in the hermaphrodite land snail Cornu aspersum

Dahirel

Ansart²,

Mathieu

2016

Journal of Zoology

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“…Such plasticity has been intensely studied in invertebrates [ 3 ] and has been found at the level of sperm production [ 10 , 11 ] and at the level of sperm allocation (i.e. the investment into a particular mating; recent studies include Arudell et al [ 12 ], and Kimura and Chiba [ 13 ]). Sperm number may be the trait that is most likely to be phenotypically plastic, as suggested by Kelly and Jennions [ 3 ] in their recent meta-analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ejaculate Characteristics Depend on Social Environment in the Horse (Equus caballus)

Burger

Wedekind

2015

PLoS ONE

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Sperm competition theory predicts semen characteristics to be affected by the social environment. We used the polygamous horse (Equus caballus) to experimentally study within-subject plasticity in response to different social environments. Stallions were sequentially exposed, over a period of 8 weeks each, to other stallions and then singly to mares, or vice versa (in adjacent boxes separated by grills). Ejaculates were collected to determine semen characteristics. Highest sperm numbers were found in stallions that were first exposed to other stallions and then to mares, while lowest sperm numbers were observed in stallions that had been exposed to mares but not yet to other stallions. One of three sperm velocity measures (curvilinear velocity) was consistently elevated in stallions that were first exposed to stallions and then to mares. Sperm number after exposure to mares and curvilinear sperm velocity after exposure to stallions were both positively correlated to average blood testosterone levels during the corresponding period of exposure. We conclude that ejaculate characteristics are plastic traits affected by the social environment in horses.

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“…As in E. peliomphala (Kimura and Chiba, 2013a), courtship in this species does not include the 'circling phase' behaviour that is typical of certain land snails and slugs (Adamo and Chase, 1988;Reise, 1995). Copulation in this species lasts 100-150 min (Kimura and Chiba, 2013b). Before the spermatophore exchange, the two mating partners stab each other repeatedly with their love dart.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual inactivation induced by the mucus that covers land snail love darts: sexual selection and evolution of allohormones in hermaphrodites

Shibuya

Chiba

Kimura

2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The transfer of male accessory gland secretions is a well-investigated reproductive strategy for winning in sexual selection. An example of such a strategy is the conspicuous mating behaviour of simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails, the so-called shooting of love-darts, whereby a snail drives love-dart(s) into the body of its mating partner. It has been shown that a specific mucus, which coats the love-dart, is transferred into the partner's hemolymph and that it suppresses subsequent matings in the darted individual in Euhadra quaesita. However, how the mucus of the love-dart suppresses rematings remains unclear. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that by injection of the dart mucus, love-dart shooters manipulate the physiology of a dart recipient and make the individual sexually inactive. In an experiment in which snails were provided opportunities to encounter a potential mating partner, we found that the latency period to achieve sexual arousal was longer in snails injected with the dart mucus than in snails of the control treatments. This finding indicates that the dart mucus delays sexual arousal in injected snails. This delay in arousal is a novel example of the effects of the mucus in simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails. The remating suppression effect of the dart mucus is likely to occur through sexual inactivation.

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Strategic ejaculation in simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails: more sperm into virgin mates

Cited by 8 publications

References 60 publications

Potential syndromes linking dispersal and reproduction in the hermaphrodite land snail Cornu aspersum

Potential syndromes linking dispersal and reproduction in the hermaphrodite land snail Cornu aspersum

Ejaculate Characteristics Depend on Social Environment in the Horse (Equus caballus)

Sexual inactivation induced by the mucus that covers land snail love darts: sexual selection and evolution of allohormones in hermaphrodites

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