10.5061/DRYAD.CR785
Baruffaldi, Luciana
University of Toronto
Andrade, Maydianne C. B.
University of Toronto
Data from: Neutral fitness outcomes contradict inferences of sexual
‘coercion’ derived from male’s damaging mating tactic in a widow spider
Dryad
dataset
2018
courtship behaviour
sex pheromone
damaging mating
Latrodectus hasselti
coercive mating
female fitness
2018-11-10T00:00:00Z
2018-11-10T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17524-6
78481 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Sexual conflict over mating frequency has driven the evolution of
morphological and behavioural traits across taxa. Interactions may be
termed ‘coercive’ and assumed to arise from conflict when male mating
behaviours cause physical injury to females and females appear to resist
injurious matings.However, coercion per se occurs only if the behaviour
reduces female fitness; and such outcomes are rarely measured. Here we
show that a damaging mating tactic, apparently adaptive for males, is not
coercive for females. Adult male Latrodectus spiders mate with immature
females after tearing the exoskeleton covering the female’s
recently-developed reproductive tract, which can cause haemolymph
bleeding. We show that, relative to pairings with adult females, males use
reduced courtship displays when approaching immature females, which in
some cases respond with elevated deterrent behavioural responses.
Nevertheless, we found no reproductive cost for immature-mated females in
terms of longevity, fertility or fecundity. Moreover, most immature-mated
females did not produce sex pheromones as adults, so did not seek
additional matings. Thus, despite the appearance of conflict there is no
evidence that immature-mating is coercive. These results show it is
critical to measure fitness outcomes, in addition to behavioural
responses, to test for coercion.
Baruffaldi-Andrade-NeutralFitnessOutcomes-dataData from "Neutral
fitness outcomes contradict inferences of sexual ‘coercion’ derived from
male’s damaging mating tactic in a widow spider". Baruffaldi
& Andrade. File includes mating behaviour; fecundity, fertility,
and longevity of females; and responses of males to sex pheromones.