Sperm removal during copulation confirmed in the oldest extant damselfly, Hemiphlebia mirabilis.

ABSTRACT: Postcopulatory sexual selection may favour mechanisms to reduce sperm competition, like physical sperm removal by males. To investigate the origin of sperm removal, I studied the reproductive behaviour and mechanisms of sperm competition in the only living member of the oldest damselfly family, Hemiphlebia mirabilis, one species that was considered extinct in the 1980s. This species displays scramble competition behaviour. Males search for females with short flights and both sexes exhibit a conspicuous "abdominal flicking". This behaviour is used by males during an elaborate precopulatory courtship, unique among Odonata. Females use a similar display to reject male attempts to form tandem, but eventually signal receptivity by a particular body position. Males immobilise females during cour

SUBMITTER: Cordero-Rivera A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4888289 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature