Heritable variation in the timing of spermatophore removal, a mechanism of post-copulatory female choice in crickets

Female crickets can exert post-copulatory mating preferences by prematurely removing a male's spermatophore after copulation, which terminates sperm transfer. Although most models of sexual selection assume that female mating preferences are heritable, there has been little work addressing gene...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of evolutionary biology 2008-09, Vol.21 (5), p.1366-1370
Main Authors: MAUTZ, B.S, SAKALUK, S.K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acheta domesticus
Animal reproduction
Animals
Evolutionary biology
Female
Females
Genetic Variation
Genetics
Genotype
Gryllidae
Gryllidae - physiology
heritability
Insects
Male
Mating Preference, Animal
post-copulatory female choice
Quantitative Trait, Heritable
sexual selection
spermatophore
spermatophores
Spermatozoa - physiology
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Summary:Female crickets can exert post-copulatory mating preferences by prematurely removing a male's spermatophore after copulation, which terminates sperm transfer. Although most models of sexual selection assume that female mating preferences are heritable, there has been little work addressing genetic variation underlying post-copulatory mate choice. We used a paternal half-sib design, in which different males were randomly assigned as mates to several females to create half-sib families, to determine the heritability of spermatophore retention time in female house crickets, Acheta domesticus. There was significant additive genetic variance in the timing of spermatophore removal by females [h² = 0.50 ± 0.19 (± SE)], suggesting that the timing of spermatophore removal is determined, in part, by the female's own genotype independent of the quality of her mate. The relatively high heritability of spermatophore retention time may be reflective of the absence of strong selection on this trait, consistent with previous work showing no difference in the fitness of females permitted to freely remove the spermatophore of their mates and those forced to accept complete ejaculates.
ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01560.x