Abstract
Coelopids live in wrack beds consisting of seaweed washed up on beaches. Their mating system is characterized by sexual conflict and convenience polyandry, with females resisting male mating attempts. We estimated the level of harassment by males and the success rate of rejection by females collected from a high density wild population. Males mounted a female every 8.41 min. Of these mounts 35% resulted in copulation. This suggests that females could be mated up to 5 times every 2 h. Females typically live for 3 weeks, and thus, could mate with hundreds of males during their lifetime. We found a 50:50 sex ratio throughout the wrack bed revealing that females do not avoid male harassment by leaving the wrack bed when not ovipositing.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Arnqvist, G. (1992). Pre-copulatory fighting in a water strider—inter-sexual conflict or assessment. Anim. Behav. 43: 559–567.
Arnqvist, G., and Rowe, L. (2005). Sexual Conflict, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Ausden, M. (1996). Invertebrates. In Sutherland, W. J. (ed.), Ecological Census Techniques : A Handbook, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 174–175.
Blanckenhorn, W. U., Muhlhauser, C., Morf, C., Reusch, T., and Reuter, M. (2000). Female choice, female reluctance to mate and sexual selection on body size in the dung fly Sepsis cynipsea. Ethology 106: 577–593.
Blyth, J. E., and Gilburn, A. S. (2005). The effect of time interval between matings on post-copulatory sexual selection in the seaweed fly, Coelopa frigida. Heredity 95: 174–178.
Burnet, B. (1960). Lethals in Free Living Populations of Coelopa frigida. PhD Thesis, University of Durham.
Chapman, T., Arnqvist, G., Bangham, J., and Rowe, L. (2003). Sexual conflict. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18: 41–47.
Collins, P. M. (1978). Studies on Genetic Polymorphisms in Coelopa frigida. PhD Thesis, University of Nottingham.
Crean, C. S., and Gilburn, A. S. (1998). Sexual selection as a side-effect of sexual conflict in the seaweed fly, Coelopa ursina (Diptera : Coelopidae). Anim. Behav. 56: 1405–1410.
Crean, C. S., Dunn, D. W., Day, T. H., and Gilburn, A. S. (2000). Female mate choice for large males in several species of seaweed fly (Diptera: Coelopidae). Anim. Behav. 59: 121–126.
Cullen, S. J., Young, A. M., and Day, T. H. (1987). Dietary requirements of seaweed flies (Coelopa frigida). Est. Coast. Shelf Sci. 24: 701–710.
Day, T. H., and Gilburn, A. S. (1997). Sexual selection in seaweed flies. Adv. Study Behav. 26: 1–57.
Dobson, T. (1974). Studies on the biology of the kelp fly Coelopa in Great Britian. J. Nat. Hist. 8: 155–157.
Dunn, D. W., Crean, C. S., Wilson, C. L., and Gilburn, A. S. (1999). Male choice, willingness to mate and body size in seaweed flies (Diptera: Coelopidae). Anim. Behav. 57: 847–853.
Dunn, D. W., Crean, C. S., and Gilburn, A. S. (2001). Male mating preference for female survivorship in the seaweed fly Gluma musgravei (Diptera: Coelopidae). Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 268: 1255–1258.
Dunn, D. W., Crean, C. S., and Gilburn, A. S. (2002). The effects of exposure to seaweed on willingness to mate, oviposition, and longevity in seaweed flies. Ecol. Entomol. 27: 554–564.
Eberhard, W. G. (1996). Female Control: Sexual Selection by Cryptic Female Choice, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Elliott, J. M. (1977). Some Methods for the Statistical Analysis of Benthic Invertebrates, Freshwater Biological Association.
Helfrich-Förster, C. (1998). Robust circadian rhythmicity of Drosophila melanogaster requires the presence of lateral neurones: a brain behavioural study of disconnected mutants. J. Comp. Physiol. 182: 435–453.
Muhlhauser, C. S., and Blanckenhorn, W. U. (2004). The quantitative genetics of sexual selection in the dung fly Sepsis cynipsea. Behaviour 141: 327–341.
Parker, G. A. (1970). Sperm competition and its evolutionary consequences in the insects. Biol. Rev. 45: 525–567.
Pitafi, K. D., Simpson, R., and Day, T. H. (1995). Male mate choice for fecund females in seaweed flies. Pak. J. Zool. 27: 233–240.
Rowe, L. (1992). Convenience polyandry in a water strider: foraging conflicts and female control of copulation frequency and guarding duration. Anim. Behav. 44: 189–202.
Rowe, L., Arnqvist, G., Sih, A., and Krupa, J. J. (1994). Sexual conflict and the evolutionary ecology of mating patterns: water striders as a model system. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9: 289–293.
Shuker, D. M., and Day, T. H. (2001). The repeatability of a sexual conflict over mating. Anim. Behav. 61: 755–762.
Shuker, D. M., and Day, T. H. (2002). Mate sampling and the sexual conflict over mating in seaweed flies. Behav. Ecol. 13: 83–86.
Thornhill, R. (1983). Cryptic female choice and its implications in the Scorpionfly Arpobittacus nigriceps. Am. Nat. 122: 765–788.
Thornhill, R., and Alcock, J. (1983). The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Watson, P. J., Arnqvist, G., and Stallman, R. R. (1998). Sexual conflict and the energetic costs of mating and mate choice in water striders. Am. Nat. 151: 46–58.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Wolf Blanckenhorn and Matt Tinsley for useful comments on the manuscript. We thank Steven Meader for permission to quote unpublished data. We are also grateful to two anonymous referees for their helpful and constructive criticisms of an earlier version of the manuscript. This research was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council studentship to J.E.B.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Blyth, J.E., Gilburn, A.S. Extreme Promiscuity in a Mating System Dominated by Sexual Conflict. J Insect Behav 19, 447–455 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-006-9034-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-006-9034-3