title: Female multiple matings and male harassment and their effects on fitness of arrhenotokousThrips tabaci(Thysanoptera: Thripidae).
abstract: Although it is generally assumed that one or a few matings are sufficient to maximize female fitness and that mating is generally assumed to be costly to females, multiple matings of females have been reported across a wide and taxonomically diverse set of animals. Here, we investigated female mating frequency and male harassment rate in arrhenotokousThrips tabaci. In addition, the cost to females of mating, multiple matings, and male harassment to females was evaluated. We found thatT. tabacifemales mated multiple times during their lifetime and were subjected to a high rate of male harassment at all the ages we tested. Mating was costly to females in terms of reducing longevity and delaying the initiation of egg laying, although mating did not affect the survivorship and longevity of males. Furthermore, continual exposure to males also resulted in a fitness cost to mated females in terms of delayed egg production and reduced fecundity. Virgin females of arrhenotokous thrips produce only male progeny whereas mated females of arrhenotokous thrips produce males from unfertilized eggs and females from fertilized eggs. However, multiple matings did not allow females to fertilize a larger proportion of their eggs to increase the female offspring ratio. Our study demonstrates the conflicts between the occurrence of multiple matings and the cost of sexual activities. This raises questions about the evolution of multiple matings and polyandry in this species. Furthermore, these findings suggest that such phenomena may occur in other animal species and influence the evolution of their mating systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456 USA ; Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management, Ministry of Education, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100 China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, 1118 Hungary.
authors.forename: Jozsef
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8049-5776
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fail
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456 USA.
authors.forename: Anthony M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Shelton
keywords: Arrhenotokous Thrips tabaci; Female mating frequency; Fitness cost; Male harassment