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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on January 30, 2009
Behavioral Ecology 2009 20(2):328-334; doi:10.1093/beheco/arp003
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© The Author 2009. 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

Sperm precedence in monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)

Michelle J. Solenskya and Karen S. Oberhauserb

a Department of Biology, The College of Wooster, 931 College Mall, Wooster, OH 44691, USA b Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA

Address correspondence to K. Oberhauser. E-mail: oberh001{at}umn.edu.


  Abstract

We characterized sperm precedence in monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), using a series of experiments in which we manipulated male mating histories to vary spermatophore size and the number of sperm transferred. Several factors affected the outcome of sperm competition. There was a pattern of second-male sperm precedence, but second-male precedence was rarely complete, and several other factors had significant effects on paternity patterns. Larger males outcompeted smaller males when they were not matched for size. Phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) genotype affected the outcome of sperm competition under very hot conditions. When sperm from the same pair of males competed in different females, males fared better when they transferred more sperm. These results demonstrate that sperm precedence within a species can be affected by many factors, including the circumstances under which it is measured.

Key words: monarch butterflies, PGI genotype, sperm competition, sperm transfer.

Received 21 April 2008; revised 13 November 2008; accepted 1 December 2008.


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