Sexual selection in mantis (Parastagmatoptera tessellata): effects of female aggressiveness on male mate choice

SANDRO FOSACHECA; ROMINA SCARDAMAGLIA; LORENA POMPILIO

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; IV Reunión Binacional de Ecología; 2010

Recent research has proposed that male mantis (Parastagmatoptera tessellata) are not complicit in cannibalism and that they are able to avoid females under conditions that favour cannibalism (i.e.starvation). On these bases, we investigated whether males are sensitive to the level of aggression exhibited by females. To that end, twenty males were confronted individually with two choices: a) a female exhibiting strikes (aggressive female) when a harnessed male was placed close to it, and b) a female who did not exhibit strikes (passive female) when the same male was placed close to it. Preliminary results indicate that male behavior changes according to the number of strikes exhibited by females. When the aggressive females performed just a few strikes (less than 6) the passive females were preferred. On the other hand, the aggressive females were preferred when they exhibited many strikes (more than 6). A possible explanation is that aggressive females were chosen when they exhibited many strikes (more than 6) due to a phenomenon of enhancement (when females strike, they move markedly and this could have driven male´s attention to them). Thus, just a few strikes (less than 6) would be an effective stimulus, avoiding any enhancement of females. To test this interpretation, additional experiments are in progress.