Occurrence and duration of post-copulatory mate guarding in a spider with last sperm precedence

CALBACHO-ROSA, L.; CÓRDOBA-AGUILAR, A.; PERETTI, A. V.

BEHAVIOUR

BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS

Año: 2010 vol. 147 p. 1267 - 1283

0005-7959

One male strategy to prevent female re-mating is post-copulatory mate guarding. In the pholcidspider Holocnemus pluchei last male’s fertilization success is around 74% and femalesremain receptive after copulation. It is, thus, reasonable to suppose that males should engagein post-copulatory mate guarding. Chronologically, the present study focused on the followingaspects: (1) to determine if male permanence near females corresponds to mate guarding.For this, a second male (intruder) was introduced. Time of permanence, distance and behaviourof residents did not change whether or not an intruder was present; (2) to investigatethe duration of mate guarding and male distance to the female in a time series intervals aftercopulation. Males remained close to females during 14 h keeping a distance of less than15 cm; (3) to evaluate whether guarding duration is influenced by female sexual receptivity.We found that 24 h after the first copulation, when the resident was placed again nextto the female, he tried to re-mate; and (4) to examine differences in paternity in relation towhether or not the resident exerted guarding. P2 was higher when second males copulatedagain within the first 6 h compared to 24 h after the first copulation.