title: Female feeding regime and polyandry in the nuptially feeding nursery web spider, Pisaura mirabilis.
abstract: We examined the influence of female feeding regime on polyandry in the nuptially feeding nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis). In this species, the nuptial gift, a dead prey item wrapped in the male's silk, is physically separate from the ejaculate. We manipulated female feeding regime (starved or fed) and the presence or absence of a gift with three successive males to test direct-benefits hypotheses (nuptial gift or sperm supply) for the expression of polyandry. The presence of a gift was necessary for copulation, as no male without a gift successfully copulated. Female mating behavior most strongly supports polyandry due to the accumulation of gifted food items ("nuptial gift" direct-benefits hypothesis). Starved females that were presented with a gift accepted significantly more gifts and inseminations than fed females. Most starved females (74%) copulated two or more times, as opposed to only 3% of the fed females. Nearly all of the females that accepted a gift subsequently copulated. The nuptial gift item seems to function as male mating effort and females appear to receive multiple matings as part of a feeding strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Trnava, Priemyselná 4, 91843, Trnava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prokop
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Maxwell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013112:Spiders / Q000502:physiology*