Male copulation frequency, sperm competition and genital damage in the golden orb-web spider (Nephila plumipes)
Jutta M. Schneider A G , Marie E. Herberstein B , Matthew J. Bruce B C , Michael M. Kasumovic D , Melissa L. Thomas E F and Mark A. Elgar EA Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
B Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia.
C Present address: Behavioural Biology and Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, PO Box 80086, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
D Department of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.
E Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.
F Present address: School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
G Corresponding author. Email: js@gilgamesh.de
Australian Journal of Zoology 56(4) 233-238 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO08041
Submitted: 21 April 2008 Accepted: 18 November 2008 Published: 22 December 2008
Abstract
Copulation in many sexually cannibalistic spiders is associated with a loss of function of the male reproductive organs and, as a consequence, males that survive sexual cannibalism may nevertheless be unable to subsequently copulate successfully. Sexual cannibalism is common in the Australian golden orb-web spider (Nephila plumipes), in which the tip of the conductor typically breaks during copulation. Thus, male mating frequency may be physiologically limited to two females, irrespective of the male’s ability to avoid cannibalism or the opportunity to locate and court additional, receptive females. Laboratory experiments revealed that the likelihood of the conductor breaking depends upon the copulatory history of the female insemination duct: males were more likely to break their conductor if they inseminated a ‘virgin’ rather than ‘mated’ insemination duct. However, the choice of insemination duct did not influence the duration of copulation or quantity of sperm transferred. In field populations, the proportion of males with both conductors broken increased during the course of the mating season, but while males with broken conductors did not copulate successfully with virgin females, they were nevertheless observed on the webs of immature females. We suggest that male N. plumipes with broken conductors on the webs of females are most likely mate guarding, as this appears to be the most effective mechanism of securing paternity.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the support of the Australian Research Council (A19930103 and A19802502 to MAE; DP0662873 to MEH), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to JMS) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (PGSB to MMK).
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