Sexual selection in mantis (Parastagmatoptera tessellata): in the search of decision-making mechanisms underlying male mate choice

LORENA POMPILIO; ESTEBAN AVIGLIANO; ROMINA SCARDAMAGLIA; FABIÁN GABELLI

Oxford

Congreso; The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) Summer Conference: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex; 2009

University of Oxford, UK

Firstly, we investigated whether male mantis use environmental cues that provide information regarding the energetic state of females to make their mate choices. Twenty males were confronted individually with: a female eating a prey, a female without a prey and a male eating a prey (control). Male mantis preferred females that were eating a prey (p less than 0.05). Secondly, we investigated whether males are sensitive to the level of aggression exhibited by females. Twenty males were confronted individually with two females: one exhibiting strikes when confronted with a harnessed male and the other not. The males preferred the most aggressive females (p less than 0.05).