Value of male remating and functional sterility in redback spiders

Andrade, Maydianne C. B.; Banta, Erin

doi:10.1006/anbe.2002.2003

Cited by 104 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Spiderlings from an outbred laboratory population were monitored daily and fed Drosophila melanogaster twice weekly (see Andrade & Banta 2002) and held at 258C on a 12 : 12 h light cycle. One hundred and twelve penultimate instar males were randomly assigned to rearing in the presence or absence of females, mimicking extremes of female density in nature.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body condition but not dietary restriction prolongs lifespan in a semelparous capital breeder

2009

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Effects of diet on longevity are complex because acquired resources are shared among growth, reproduction and somatic maintenance. We simplify these axes by examining how dietary restriction and competitive contexts affect longevity using semelparous males of the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti). Plastic development of L. hasselti males results in trade-offs of body condition against faster development if females are present, facilitating scramble competition. In the absence of females, males develop slowly as high body condition adults, and are better equipped for mate searching. Here we focus on effects of diet and competitive context on body condition and longevity. Although male survival depended on body condition and exercise, contrary to studies in a wide range of taxa, dietary restriction did not increase longevity. However, there was an interactive effect of diet and competitive context on lifespan, because high-diet males reared in the absence of females lived longer than males reared in the presence of females. Thus males near females pay a survival cost of developing rapidly. This shows that life-history trade-offs affected by competitive context can impose longevity costs independent of the direct energy expenditure of searching, courtship, competition or reproduction.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body condition but not dietary restriction prolongs lifespan in a semelparous capital breeder

2009

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“…Females had 48 h to build webs in separate arenas (see Andrade & Banta 2002). A trial began when the first male was introduced to a female's web.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sperm storage organs facilitate female control of paternity

2005

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It has been proposed that multiple sperm storage organs (spermathecae) could allow polyandrous females to control paternity. There is little conclusive evidence for this since insemination of individual spermathecae is generally not experimentally manipulable. Here, we examined sperm use patterns in the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti ), which has paired, independent spermathecae. We assessed paternity when two rivals were forced to inseminate a single storage organ or opposite storage organs. When males inseminated a single spermatheca, mean paternity of the female's first mate was 79.8% (median 89.4%), and 38% of first mates achieved 100% paternity. In contrast, when males inseminated opposite organs, the mean paternity of the first mate was 49.3% (median 49.9%), only 10% of males achieved complete precedence, and paternity was normally distributed, suggesting sperm mixing. Males responded to this difference by avoiding previously inseminated female reproductive tracts. Complete sperm precedence can only be achieved if females permit males to copulate with both reproductive tracts. Females often cannibalize smaller males during their first copulation, thus limiting their paternity to 50%. These data show that multiple sperm storage organs can increase female control of paternity.

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“…Curiously, males that survive their first copulation will copulate again with the same female, even though a single copulation supplies sufficient sperm to fertilize her lifetime production of eggs (Andrade and Banta 2002). Importantly, this monogynous and self-sacrificial behavior does not increase the female's fecundity or fertility (Andrade and Banta 2002), but confers a paternity advantage to the male (Andrade 1996). Given the extreme sexual size dimorphism in this species, it is perhaps not surprising that the much smaller male makes no significant contribution to the female's diet.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The evolution of monogyny in L. hasselti has been explained conventionally (Buskirk et al 1984) by a combination of reproductive benefits and high mortality risk for males during mate search (Andrade 1996(Andrade , 2003Andrade and Banta 2002). Thus, if the chance of encountering more than one female in a lifetime is small, a male may maximize his reproductive success by investing all of his resources in the first female he encounters (Buskirk et al 1984).…”

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confidence: 99%

Faithful Without Care: The Evolution of Monogyny

2005

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Abstract. The traditional paradigm of male polygamy and female monogamy has been replaced by the recognition that both sexes may typically mate with several partners. As a consequence, much attention has focused on the evolution of polyandry, while the evolutionary significance of monogyny (male monogamy) remains poorly understood. Monogyny, a taxonomically widespread mating system that includes dramatic examples of male self-sacrifice, is predicted when the benefits of paternal investment exceed those of searching for additional mates. However, monogyny also occurs in animals lacking paternal investment, instead representing a form of paternity protection. It has been suggested that such mating systems are expected where the costs of mate search for males are high. However, this argument fails to recognize that if there is a low probability of a male finding a mate, then there may be a high probability that he will not need to defend his paternity. Using a mathematical model, we show that monogyny as a means of increasing paternity is favored when the sex ratio is male biased, but not necessarily by high search costs. The importance of a male-biased sex ratio for the evolution of monogyny is supported by various empirical studies.

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Value of male remating and functional sterility in redback spiders

Cited by 104 publications

References 58 publications

Body condition but not dietary restriction prolongs lifespan in a semelparous capital breeder

Body condition but not dietary restriction prolongs lifespan in a semelparous capital breeder

Multiple sperm storage organs facilitate female control of paternity

Faithful Without Care: The Evolution of Monogyny

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