Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dickinson, J. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Dickinson, J. L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1995 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Trade-offs between postcopulatory riding and mate location in the blue milkweed beetle

Janis L. Dickinson

Hastings Natural History Reservation, University of California 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley, CA 93924, USA

ABSTRACT

In the blue milkweed beetle, Chrysochus cobaltinus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), males remain stationary on females' backs for prolonged periods after a single, brief copulation. Lone males often attack pairs, and takeovers, in which rival males replace the resident on the female's back, are common. I used removal experiments to measure the effect of postcopulatory riding on latency to remating. Females whose males were removed were more likely to remate in the next 2 h than females that were allowed to remain paired. When females were removed, males were also more likely to remate in the 2-h period following removal than were males allowed to continue riding. This indicates that males delay remating by their mates at the expense of mating opportunities with additional females. The predicted reproductive success of guarding and nonguarding males was calculated using a model based upon experimentally derived latencies to remating and simulated levels of last male paternity. Guarders outperformed nonguarders when the proportion of offspring sired by the last male (P2) was 0.4 or greater. Data on survival and lifetime mating success were used to evaluate survival trade-offs of postcopulatory riding. Although males sacrificed feeding time to ride on females' backs, there was a positive relationship between the proportion of time males spent riding and their longevity in the patch. These results indicate that postcopulatory riding has no survival costs and indicate that postcopulatory riding can be an effective paternity assurance mechanism even when takeovers are common.

Key words: lifetime mating success, mate guarding, postinsemination associations, prolonged mating, scramble competition. [Behav Ecol 6:280–286 (1995)].


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J HeredHome page
K. J. Monsen, B. M. Honchak, S. E. Locke, and M. A. Peterson
Cytonuclear Disequilibrium in Chrysochus Hybrids Is Not Due to Patterns of Mate Choice
J. Hered., July 9, 2007; (2007) esm039v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
S. K. Schwartz and M. A. Peterson
Strong material benefits and no longevity costs of multiple mating in an extremely polyandrous leaf beetle, Chrysochus cobaltinus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2006; 17(6): 1004 - 1010.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
T. T. Knox and M. P. Scott
Size, operational sex ratio, and mate-guarding success of the carrion beetle, Necrophila americana
Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2006; 17(1): 88 - 96.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
A. R. Harari, P. J. Landolt, C. W. O'Brien, and H. J. Brockmann
Prolonged mate guarding and sperm competition in the weevil Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.)
Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2003; 14(1): 89 - 96.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.