Effects of female body size and age and male mating status on male combat in Anastatus disparis (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1071-1079
Author(s):  
Peng‐Cheng Liu ◽  
Jian‐Rong Wei ◽  
Xuan Han ◽  
De‐Jun Hao ◽  
Zi‐Yi Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Mating Status ◽  
Female Body Size

Male mating tactics in a blister beetle (Coleoptera: Meloidae) vary with female quality

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 1652-1655 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Brown ◽  
Ruth Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Oviposition Site ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Mating Tactics ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Female Quality ◽  
Foraging Site ◽  
Blister Beetle

Male blister beetles Nemognatha nitidula employ alternative postmating tactics. Females oviposit on the underside of closed thistle buds, and males actively search these sites for potential mates. Males at the oviposition site guard their mates for an extended period after mating, whereas males that secure copulations at open flowers (the foraging site) forgo mate guarding. On average, guarded females were larger than both females that mated at the foraging site and nonguarded females at the oviposition site. This suggests that a male's choice of mating tactic is contingent on female body size. However, larger females take longer to oviposit, and so a large-phenotype bias among guarded females may be a consequence of males remaining with mates until all eggs are laid. This was not the case; males often terminated guarding before oviposition ended, and there was no correlation between length of the guarding period and female body size. Thus, male mating tactics in this blister beetle vary with both the female's location (which is indicative of her readiness to oviposit) and her body size.

scholarly journals Larger is not better: No mate preference by European Common Frog (Rana temporaria) males

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Dittrich ◽  
Mark-Oliver R&oumldel
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Intrasexual Competition ◽  
Scramble Competition ◽  
Mating Preference ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Common Frog ◽  
Female Body Size

According to classical sexual selection theory, females are the choosy sex in most species. Choosiness is defined as the individual effort to invest energy and time to assess potential mates. In explosive breeding anurans, high intrasexual competition between males leads to a sexual coercion ruled mating system, where males could have evolved preferences for specific female traits. In the current study, we tested male mating preference in the explosive breeding European Common Frog without intrasexual competition. We hypothesized that males show preferences towards larger female body size in the absence of male competition. We conducted mate choice experiments, placing a male and two differently sized females in a box and recorded their mating behavior. Males did not show any preference considering female body size, neither in the attempt to grab a female nor during the formation of pairs. We witnessed a high failure rate of male mating attempts, which might make the evolution of mate choice too costly. However, small males are faster in attempting females, which could be an alternative strategy to get access to females, because their larger competitors have an advantage during scramble competition. Nonetheless, in successfully formed pairs, the females were on average larger than the males, an observation which deviated from our null-model where pairs should be of similar size if mating would be random. This indicates that selection takes place, independent from male mating preference or scramble competition.

scholarly journals Honest cues contribute to male choice for female guarding in a herbivorous spider mite

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven F. Goossens ◽  
Frederik Mortier ◽  
Thomas Parmentier ◽  
Femke Batsleer ◽  
Thomas Van Leeuwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Spider Mite ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Arthropod Species

AbstractMate choice is a wide-spread phenomenon with important effects on ecological and evolutionary dynamics of successive generations. Increasing evidence shows that males can choose females if females vary in quality and these mating choices can strongly impact fitness. In the herbivorous spider mite Tetranychus urticae males engage in precopulatory mate guarding of quiescent females, and it is known that females vary in their time to sexual maturity and fecundity. However, our understanding of how males maximize their reproductive success and which female phenotypic traits are important cues for their mating decisions are still limited. In many arthropod species, female body size and pheromones are well known proxies for fecundity. These traits—and thus possibly male mating decisions—are however sensitive to environmental (dietary) stress. By allowing males to freely choose amongst many (synchronized) females in a controlled semi natural environment, we found that guarded females have a higher fecundity and are closer to sexual maturity than non-guarded females. Despite the fact that female body size was positively correlated with fecundity and significantly influenced by the environment, males did not discriminate on body size nor did we find evidence that they used other cues like cuticular pheromones or copying behavior (social cues). In conclusion we were able to show male mate preference for females that are closer to sexual maturity and have higher fecundity, but we were unable to identify the female traits that signal this information

scholarly journals Survival of Female Lesser Scaup: Effects of Body Size, Age, and Reproductive Effort

The Condor ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay J. Rotella ◽  
Robert G. Clark ◽  
Alan D. Afton
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Cost Of Reproduction ◽  
Aythya Affinis ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Lesser Scaup ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Breeding Propensity

AbstractIn birds, larger females generally have greater breeding propensity, reproductive investment, and success than do smaller females. However, optimal female body size also depends on how natural selection acts during other parts of the life cycle. Larger female Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) produce larger eggs than do smaller females, and ducklings from larger eggs survive better than those hatching from smaller eggs. Accordingly, we examined patterns of apparent annual survival for female scaup and tested whether natural selection on female body size primarily was stabilizing, a frequent assumption in studies of sexually dimorphic species in which males are the larger sex, or was directional, counteracting reproductive advantages of large size. We estimated survival using mark-recapture methods for individually marked females from two study sites in Canada (Erickson, Manitoba; St. Denis, Saskatchewan). Structurally larger (adults) and heavier (ducklings) females had lower survival than did smaller individuals in Manitoba; no relationship was detected in adults from Saskatchewan. Survival of adult females declined with indices of increasing reproductive effort at both sites; consequently, the cost of reproduction could explain age-related patterns of breeding propensity in scaup. Furthermore, if larger females are more likely to breed than are smaller females, then cost of reproduction also may help explain why survival was lower for larger females. Overall, we found that advantages of large body size of female scaup during breeding or as young ducklings apparently were counteracted by natural selection favoring lightweight juveniles and structurally smaller adult females through higher annual survival.Sobrevivencia de Aythya affinis: Efectos del Tamaño Corporal, Edad y Esfuerzo ReproductivoResumen. En las aves, las hembras de mayor tamaño generalmente presentan una mayor predisposición a la reproducción, mayor inversión reproductiva y mayor éxito que las hembras de menor tamaño. Sin embargo, el tamaño óptimo de la hembra también depende de cómo la selección natural opera durante otras etapas del ciclo de vida. Hembras de Aythya affinis más grandes producen huevos de mayor tamaño que hembras más pequeñas, y los polluelos provenientes de huevos más grandes sobreviven mejor que aquellos que eclosionan de huevos más pequeños. Consiguientemente, examinamos los patrones de sobrevivencia anual aparente para hembras de A. affinis y probamos si la selección natural sobre el tamaño del cuerpo de las hembras era principalmente estabilizadora (una suposición frecuente en estudios de especies sexualmente dimórficas en que los machos son el sexo mayor), o era direccional, contrarrestando las ventajas reproductivas de un tamaño mayor. Estimamos la sobrevivencia de hembras utilizando métodos de marcaje y recaptura en dos sitios de estudio (Erickson, Manitoba; St. Denis, Saskatchewan). Hembras estructuralmente más grandes (adultas) y más pesadas (polluelos) tuvieron una menor sobrevivencia que individuos más pequeños en Manitoba; no se detectó una relación entre adultos de Saskatchewan. En ambos sitios la sobrevivencia de hembras adultas decreció con los índices de incremento de esfuerzo reproductivo; consecuentemente el costo reproductivo podría explicar los patrones de predisposición reproductiva relacionados a la edad en A. affinis. Además, si las hembras de mayor tamaño presentan mayor probabilidad de reproducirse que las hembras pequeñas, entonces el costo reproductivo también podría ayudar a explicar porqué la sobrevivencia fue menor para hembras más grandes. En general encontramos que en las hembras de A. affinis las ventajas de un tamaño corporal grande durante la cría o como juveniles fueron aparentemente contrarestadas por la selección natural que favorece juveniles de peso liviano y hembras adultas estructuralmente más pequeñas a través de una mayor sobrevivencia anual.

Media Context, Female Body Size and Perceived Realism

Sex Roles ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 128-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia A. Barriga ◽  
Michael A. Shapiro ◽  
Rayna Jhaveri
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Perceived Realism ◽  
Female Body Size

scholarly journals Investigating the link between television viewing and men's preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 538-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Thornborrow ◽  
Jean-Luc Jucker ◽  
Lynda G. Boothroyd ◽  
Martin J. Tovée
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Television Viewing ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Female Body Size
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