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Nuptial gift size, mating duration and remating success in a Neotropical spider

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03949370.2013.850452

1828-7131

André Luis Klein, Mariana C. Trillo, Fernando Guilherme Perazzo Costa, María J. Albo,

Plant and animal studies

AbstractIn many species the function and evolution of nuptial gifts have been explained by the male mating effort hypothesis; i.e., males increase their fertilization success by donating gifts to females. The gift size may determine copulation duration and consequently affects male fertilization rate. In the well-known spider Pisaura mirabilis, previous studies suggested that the brightness of the gift (a prey wrapped in silk) affects female acceptance and larger gifts promote longer matings, but little is known from other gift-giving spider species. In this paper we test if gift size affects mating and remating success in the Neotropical and semi-aquatic spider Paratrechalea ornata (Trechaleidae). We exposed virgin females to males offering one fly (OF group) or four flies (FF group) wrapped in silk, and afterwards mated females were exposed to remating. Males from FF showed both longer courtship and mating than males from OF. We found a positive linear relationship between insertion duration of male intromittent organs (during which sperm transfer occurs) and mating duration in both groups. Mated females were more reluctant to mate than virgin females, but contrary to our prediction, gift size and mating duration did not seem to influence remating success. Our findings show that large gifts prolong mating duration in P. ornata, supporting the mating effort hypothesis. Females would favour polyandry to gain direct benefits from the gifts, while males may improve success in sperm competition by inducing female reluctance for remating.key words: female refractory periodnuptial gift sizemating and remating successmating effortParatrechalea ornata ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe are grateful to Alicia Postiglioni, Laura Montes de Oca, Diego Cavassa and Estefanía Stanley for assistance in field collections, to Laura Montes de Oca for help in spider maintenance, and to Macarena González for her collaboration in the experiments. Aarhus University provided access to the statistical package JMP 7.0 software (SAS institute). We especially thank Søren Toft and Luiz Ernesto Costa-Schmidt for constructive comments on the first draft, Søren Toft for his valuable help in statistics, and Peter Schlanbusch and Ted Henderson for improving the English. We extend thanks to Francesco Dessì-Fulgheri, Editor in Chief, and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.