Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publication Date
Summer 7-3-2024
Keywords
interlocus sexual conflict, nuptial gifts, permatophylax, free amino acids, experimental evolution
Abstract
The evolution of nuptial gifts has traditionally been considered a harmonious affair, providing benefits to both mating partners. There is growing evidence, however, that receiving a nuptial gift can be actively detrimental to the female. In decorated crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus), males produce a gelatinous spermatophylax that enhances sperm transfer but provides little nutritional benefit and hinders female post-copulatory mate choice. Here, we examine the sexually antagonistic coevolution of the spermatophylax and the female feeding response to this gift in G. sigillatus maintained in experimental populations with either a male-biased or female-biased adult sex ratio. After 25 generations, males evolving in male-biased populations produced heavier spermatophylaxes with a more manipulative combination of free amino acids than those evolving in female-biased populations. Moreover, when the spermatophylax originated from the same selection regime, females evolving in male-biased populations always had shorter feeding durations than those evolving in female-biased populations, indicating the evolution of greater resistance. Across populations, female feeding duration increased with the mass and manipulative combination of free amino acids in the spermatophylax, suggesting sexually antagonistic coevolution. Collectively, our work demonstrates a key role for interlocus sexual conflict and sexually antagonistic coevolution in the mating system of G. sigillatus.
Funding Source
J.H. was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP180101708) and S.K.S., B.M.S. and J.H. by the National Science Foundation (IOS 16–54028). K.R.D. was supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service.
Recommended Citation
Burns-Dunn Samuel, Mortys Tassie, House Clarissa M., Mitchell Christopher, Duffield Kristin R., Foquet Bert, Sadd Ben M., Sakaluk Scott K. and Hunt John. 2024. Sexually antagonistic coevolution of the male nuptial gift and female feeding behaviour in decorated crickets. Proc. R. Soc. B. 29120240804 http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.0804
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2024.0804
Comments
First published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B(2024): https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.0804
Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Supplemental material available at https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/suppl/10.1098/rspb.2024.0804