Nutrition-dependent phenotypes affect sexual selection in a ladybird.
Environmental factors play a crucial role in influencing sexual selection in insects and the evolution of their mating systems. Although it has been reported that sexual selection in insects may change in response to varying environments, the reason for these changes remains poorly understood. Here, we focus on the mate selection process of a ladybird, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, when experiencing low- and high-nutrition diet regimes both in its larval and adult stages. We found that female ladybirds preferred to mate with males reared under high-nutrition diet regimes, regardless of the nutritional conditions they experienced during their own larval stages, indicating that mate choice of female C. montrouzieri is non-random and phenotype-dependent. Such mate choice may depend on visual cues (body or genitalia size) and/or chemical cues (pheromones). Further, females from high-nutrition larval diet regimes produced more eggs than those from low-nutrition larval diet regimes. In addition, diet regimes during adulthood also exerted strong effects on egg production. In summary, our study provides new insight into the mate choice of C. montrouzieri as affected by seasonal changes in resources, and suggests that food availability may be a driving force in mate choice.
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation of Guangdong Higher Education Institute, College of Ecology and Evolution, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.|Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Gent 9000, Belgium.
Jiaqin
J
Xie
Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Gent 9000, Belgium.
Patrick
P
De Clercq
Guangdong Entomological Institute, Guangzhou 510260, China.
Yuhong
Y
Zhang
Guangdong Entomological Institute, Guangzhou 510260, China.
Hongsheng
H
Wu
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation of Guangdong Higher Education Institute, College of Ecology and Evolution, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Chang
C
Pan
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Dynamics and Conservation of Guangdong Higher Education Institute, College of Ecology and Evolution, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Hong
H
Pang
D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D017678:Sex Distribution