Traumatic mating increases anchorage of mating male and reduces female remating duration and fecundity in a scorpionfly species.

ABSTRACT: Traumatic mating is the male wounding his mate during mating using specialized anatomy. However, why males have evolved to injure their mates during mating remains poorly understood. We studied traumatic mating in Dicerapanorpa magna to determine its effects on male and female fitness. The sharp teeth on male gonostyli penetrate the female genitalia and cause copulatory wounds, and the number of scars on the female genitals is positively related to the number of times females mated. When the injurious teeth were encased with low-temperature wax, preventing their penetration of the female's genitalia during mating, male mating success and copulation duration were reduced significantly, indicating the importance of the teeth in allowing the male to secure copulation, remain in copula

SUBMITTER: Tong X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8170191 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature