Functional equivalence of grasping cerci and nuptial food gifts in promoting ejaculate transfer in katydids.

Functional equivalence of grasping cerci and nuptial food gifts in 1 promoting ejaculate transfer in katydids . 2 3

Sexual conflict over nuptial gifts in insects.

Edible and seminal gifts that male arthropods transfer to their mates range from important material donations to items that provide little direct benefit. Recent reviews and research have emphasized the negative effect of gifts on female fitness, suggesting that male donations reduce the female's remating rate below her optimum or even that nuptial feeding is a net detriment to her fitness. How...

Ejaculate size, second male size, and moderate polyandry increase female fecundity in a seed beetle

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of polyandry in species that provide nuptial gifts. When nuptial gifts are in the form of nutritional elements in the ejaculate and ejaculate size is correlated with male body size, females can accrue both direct (nutritional) and indirect (genetic) benefits from multiple mating. We examined remating decisions in females of the seed...

Sensory exploitation as an evolutionary origin to nuptial food gifts in insects.

Nuptial food gifts given by males to females at mating are widespread in insects, but their evolutionary origin remains obscure. Such gifts may arise as a form of sensory trap that exploits the normal gustatory responses of females, favouring the selective retention of sperm of gift-giving males. I tested this hypothesis by offering foreign food gifts, synthesized by males of one cricket specie...

Ejaculate feeding and female fitness in the sexually dimorphic fly Prochyliza xanthostoma (Diptera: Piophilidae)

Recent theory and empirical evidence suggest a role for sexual conflict in the evolution of male ejaculates, including ‘nuptial gifts’. According to the sexual conflict hypothesis, the greater the probability of female remating, the stronger the selection on males to induce an elevated reproductive rate in their mates, even if this reduces some components of female fitness, such as survivorship...