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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on July 22, 2008
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(6):1173-1178; doi:10.1093/beheco/arn090
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Dual function of seminal substances for mate guarding in a ground beetle

Yasuoki Takami, Masataka Sasabe, Nobuaki Nagata and Teiji Sota

Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

Address correspondence to Y. Takami. E-mail: takami{at}terra.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp.


  Abstract

Males of internally fertilizing animals often produce ejaculates consisting of various substances in addition to sperm. Seminal substances can inhibit female remating through physical blocking of the female genitalia or by physiological induction of the female refractory period. We demonstrated that the seminal substances of the ground beetle Leptocarabus procerulus serve as both physical (i.e., mating plugs) and physiological (i.e., substances inducing female refractory behavior) devices for mate guarding. Although females counteract these functions via expulsion of the plug and the delay of the occurrence of refractory behavior, the interplay of these 2 functions can be compensatory and consistently lowers the female remating rate during a postmating period that is important for male fertilization success. Such interplay of 2 defensive strategies may be a male adaptation against female resistance, as predicted by the hypothesis that multiple functions in seminal substances are a historical outcome of an arms race between males and females. Our findings highlight the importance of sexual conflict in the evolution of complex seminal substances.

Key words: accessory gland protein, mating plug, sexual conflict, sexual selection, sperm competition.

Received 28 March 2008; revised 17 June 2008; accepted 19 June 2008.


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