The odonate mating system, communication, and sexual selection: A review

Abstract

In the odonate mating system, communication comprises (a) a visual and (b) a tactile stage. Visual communication is confined to male-male competitive interactions and to courtship display. The stage of tactile communication is initiated by tandem linkage. Following mainly Eberhard's (1985) hypothesis of rapid and divergent evolution of sex-involved traits, I here develop the idea that communication devices in the odonate mating process are an important target of sexual selection. Implications of sexual selection to these devices are briefly reviewed and their operating as potential reproductive isolating mechanisms is discussed.

Evolution of genitalia: theories, evidence, and new directions

“…Female sense organs are also possible, though not necessarily predicted, on rigid structures that are contacted by species-specific male structures (e.g., the wing bases of sepsid flies). This prediction thus constitutes a strong test of CFC for some types of female structures, but female sense organs have almost never been studied (see, however, Battin (1993) and Robertson and Paterson (1982) on the thorax of damselflies; Córdoba-Aguilar (2005) on the oviduct of a damselfly; Eberhard (2001aEberhard ( , 2005 and Ingram et al (2008) on the wings of sepsid flies; M. Djernaes et al (unpublished) on genital sclerites in four species of cockroaches). It is also not clear whether females utilize generalized receptors with other functions that were already present in the area that is contacted by the male, or whether they tend to evolve special sensors whose placements or other characteristics coevolve with the form of the male.…”

The functional morphology of species-specific clasping structures on the front legs of male Archisepsis and Palaeosepsis flies (Diptera, Sepsidae)

“…Direct tactile stimulation is apparently ruled out by the general absence of socketed bristles i n the areas of the female wing that are grasped by t h e male. The possible importance of stress is supported, in contrast, by the presence of campaniform sensilla, which in other species of species-specific distribution of female sense organs (as, for instance, is thought to occur in some damselflies - Robertson & Paterson, 1982;Battin, 1993). Leaving aside for the moment A. discolor, the positions of the apparent campaniform sensilla on the stem veins of female wings varied somewhat in different species (Fig.…”

“…Species-specific male organs serve both to grasp the female and to stimulate her so that she can distinguish (and favour with cooperative responses) particular males. Two functions for such discrimination by the female have been proposed (CJ to favour conspecific males over heterospecific males (species isolation) (Robertson & Paterson, 1982;Battin, 1993); (CJ to favour those conspecific males with designs that are superior in eliciting favourable female responses (sexual selection by cryptic female choice) (Eberhard, 1985(Eberhard, , 1996.…”

Cues for territory choice in two tropical dragonflies

“…However, detailed studies have determined a more complex picture that classify their mating systems into: i) non-resource-based systems, subdivided into free female choice, female-control, and encounter-limited systems and ii) resource-based systems; subdivided into resource-control and resource-limitation systems (Conrad & Pritchard 1992, Battin 1993. As part of their classification, Conrad & Pritchard (1992) used the way that odonate males control female access to oviposition sites.…”