Rival male chemical cues evoke changes in male pre- and post-copulatory investment in a flour beetle.

ABSTRACT: Males can gather information on the risk and intensity of sperm competition from their social environment. Recent studies have implicated chemosensory cues, for instance cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) in insects, as a key source of this information. Here, using the broad-horned flour beetle (Gnatocerus cornutus), we investigated the importance of contact-derived rival male CHCs in informing male perception of sperm competition risk and intensity. We experimentally perfumed virgin females with male CHCs via direct intersexual contact and measured male pre- and post-copulatory investment in response to this manipulation. Using chemical analysis, we verified that this treatment engendered changes to perfumed female CHC profiles, but did not make perfumed females "smell" mated. Despite t

SUBMITTER: Lane SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4495758 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature