Abstract
General concepts of sexual selection assume that females benefit from mating with more competitive or attractive males. By contrast, sexual conflict theory assumes that females suffer greater costs from mating with such males. To understand how mate choice evolves, it is necessary to examine these different predictions regarding costs and benefits. Moreover, environmental factors may play an important role in the consequences of mate choice benefits. Here, we examined how mate choice benefits and sexual conflict costs are affected by an environmental condition (single or repeated interaction with a mate) in Gnatocerus cornutus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The males have enlarged mandibles to fight rivals and for courtship display to attract mates, and these characters provide a mating advantage to males. In G. cornutus, compared with a single mating, continuous housing with a male directly enhances female fitness due to increased mating frequency and sperm replenishment. In a single mating situation, there were neither direct benefits nor costs from competitive and attractive males. By contrast, when females were continuously housed with a competitively superior male, female fitness was reduced, probably because of misdirected attacks by the competitive male. Thus, our result suggests that females suffer direct costs from competitive males in G. cornutus but this cost is not incurred when there are few sexual interactions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 265-272 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Animal Behaviour |
| Volume | 109 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 1 2015 |
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Keywords
- Female mate choice
- Fisherian process
- Horned beetle
- Male-male competition
- Sexually antagonistic coevolution
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Animal Science and Zoology
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cite this
Competitive males but not attractive males reduce female fitness in Gnatocerus cornutus. / Kiyose, Katsuya; Katsuki, Masako; Suzaki, Yû; Okada, Kensuke.
In: Animal Behaviour, Vol. 109, 01.11.2015, p. 265-272.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Competitive males but not attractive males reduce female fitness in Gnatocerus cornutus
AU - Kiyose, Katsuya
AU - Katsuki, Masako
AU - Suzaki, Yû
AU - Okada, Kensuke
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - General concepts of sexual selection assume that females benefit from mating with more competitive or attractive males. By contrast, sexual conflict theory assumes that females suffer greater costs from mating with such males. To understand how mate choice evolves, it is necessary to examine these different predictions regarding costs and benefits. Moreover, environmental factors may play an important role in the consequences of mate choice benefits. Here, we examined how mate choice benefits and sexual conflict costs are affected by an environmental condition (single or repeated interaction with a mate) in Gnatocerus cornutus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The males have enlarged mandibles to fight rivals and for courtship display to attract mates, and these characters provide a mating advantage to males. In G. cornutus, compared with a single mating, continuous housing with a male directly enhances female fitness due to increased mating frequency and sperm replenishment. In a single mating situation, there were neither direct benefits nor costs from competitive and attractive males. By contrast, when females were continuously housed with a competitively superior male, female fitness was reduced, probably because of misdirected attacks by the competitive male. Thus, our result suggests that females suffer direct costs from competitive males in G. cornutus but this cost is not incurred when there are few sexual interactions.
AB - General concepts of sexual selection assume that females benefit from mating with more competitive or attractive males. By contrast, sexual conflict theory assumes that females suffer greater costs from mating with such males. To understand how mate choice evolves, it is necessary to examine these different predictions regarding costs and benefits. Moreover, environmental factors may play an important role in the consequences of mate choice benefits. Here, we examined how mate choice benefits and sexual conflict costs are affected by an environmental condition (single or repeated interaction with a mate) in Gnatocerus cornutus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The males have enlarged mandibles to fight rivals and for courtship display to attract mates, and these characters provide a mating advantage to males. In G. cornutus, compared with a single mating, continuous housing with a male directly enhances female fitness due to increased mating frequency and sperm replenishment. In a single mating situation, there were neither direct benefits nor costs from competitive and attractive males. By contrast, when females were continuously housed with a competitively superior male, female fitness was reduced, probably because of misdirected attacks by the competitive male. Thus, our result suggests that females suffer direct costs from competitive males in G. cornutus but this cost is not incurred when there are few sexual interactions.
KW - Female mate choice
KW - Fisherian process
KW - Horned beetle
KW - Male-male competition
KW - Sexually antagonistic coevolution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84942586557&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84942586557&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.002
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84942586557
VL - 109
SP - 265
EP - 272
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
SN - 0003-3472
ER -