Female bushcrickets fuel their metabolism with male nuptial gifts.
In many arthropods, such as bushcrickets, males donate protein-rich nuptial gifts-so-called spermatophores-to females, which females ingest while the sperm enter the female's reproductive tract. Previously, it was shown that females route spermatophore nutrients over the course of hours and days to egg production or body synthesis. We investigated whether female bushcrickets fuel their metabolism with spermatophores immediately after consumption. We fed two male groups diets that were either enriched or depleted in 13C, and then tracked the isotopic changes in exhaled breath in female bushcrickets after spermatophore consumption. Within 3 hours, the stable carbon isotope ratio (delta13C) of female breath converged on the ratio of the male donor of the nuptial gift. This supports the idea that females quickly routed nutrients to metabolism, receiving immediate benefits from spermatophore feeding.
Voigt
Christian C
CC
Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. voigt@izw-berlin.de
Kretzschmar
Antje S
AS
Speakman
John R
JR
Lehmann
Gerlind U C
GU
D000818:Animals; D001944:Breath Tests; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009987:Orthoptera / Q000378:metabolism*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal
D002247:Carbon Isotopes