Trade-off between fitness components in males of the polygynous butterfly Callophrys xami (Lycaenidae): the effect of multiple mating on longevity |
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Authors: | C Cordero |
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Institution: | (1) Centro de Investigaciones Fisiológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Apdo. Post. 262, C.P. 90000 Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico e-mail: ccordero@xolo.conabio.gob.mx, MX;(2) Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Post. 70-275, C.P. 04510 D.F., Mexico, MX |
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Abstract: | The differential costs of mating paid by males and females influence the nature and strength of sexual selection. In butterflies,
males invest a relatively large amount of time and resources in each mating, but male survival costs of mating have not been
demonstrated. I present the results of experiments designed to measure the effect of different aspects of mating on male longevity
in the polygynous butterfly Callophrys xami. In experiment 1, I compared the longevity of pairs of males that produced similar amounts of spermatophore, but that mated
at different rates, a different numbers of times, and that produced spermatophores at different rates, and found that the
longevity of ”low-mating-rate” males was not different from that of ”high-mating-rate” males. In experiment 2, the longevity
of virgin males was not significantly different from that of multiply mated males. In experiment 3, I used resource-limited
males resulting from experimental food limitation of last-instar larvae; resource-limited virgin males lived significantly
more days than resource-limited multiply mated males. Since ecological costs of mating (e.g., disease transmission, predation
risk) were excluded in the experiment, diminished male longevity was a product of physiological costs of sexual interactions.
These results suggest that the cost of ejaculate production is an important cause of longevity reduction when there are resource
limitations; however, the role of other possible physiological costs of mating in longevity reduction is still unknown.
Received: 21 March 2000 / Accepted: 26 August 2000 |
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Keywords: | Longevity Male investment Mating cost Multiple mating Spermatophore |
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