Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid

Male reproductive success is obviously mate limited, which implies that males should rarely be choosy. One extreme case of a reproductive (or mating) cost is sexual cannibalism. Recent research has proposed that male mantids (Parastagmatoptera tessellata) are choosy and not complicit in cannibalism...

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Autores principales: Avigliano, E., Scardamaglia, R.C., Gabelli, F.M., Pompilio, L.
Formato: JOUR
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v129_n_p80_Avigliano
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spelling todo:paper_03766357_v129_n_p80_Avigliano2023-10-03T15:31:15Z Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid Avigliano, E. Scardamaglia, R.C. Gabelli, F.M. Pompilio, L. Mate choice Parastagmatoptera tessellata Praying mantid Sexual cannibalism Sexual conflict behavioral ecology cannibalism cricket environmental cue female behavior laboratory method mate choice reproductive success research work sexual conflict abdomen cannibalism controlled study eating female head human human experiment hunger male Mantodea mate choice animal decision making Mantodea physiology sexual behavior Mantidae Mantodea Animals Cannibalism Choice Behavior Female Male Mantodea Sexual Behavior, Animal Male reproductive success is obviously mate limited, which implies that males should rarely be choosy. One extreme case of a reproductive (or mating) cost is sexual cannibalism. Recent research has proposed that male mantids (Parastagmatoptera tessellata) are choosy and not complicit in cannibalism and that they modify behavior towards females based on the risk imposed by them. Since female cannibalism depends on females' energetic state (i.e. hunger) we investigated whether male mantids are capable of using environmental cues that provide information regarding the energetic state of females to make their mate choices. Under laboratory conditions, males were confronted individually with three options: a female eating a prey, a female without a prey, and a male eating a prey (as a control for the presence of prey). Each subject comprising a choice was harnessed and placed in the corners of a triangular experimental arena at an equidistant distance from the focal male. The prey was a middle size cricket that subjects ate in approximately twenty minutes. The behavior of focal males was recorded for six hours. Females were under the same deprivation regime and, in line with previous studies, consuming one cricket did not significantly increase females' abdomen girth. Male mantids significantly preferred females that were eating a prey. In all cases choices were made after the females consumed the whole prey. This suggests that males did not use the prey as a direct way to avoid being cannibalized by keeping the female busy. The preference for females that had recently fed may have evolved because of the potential reduction in sexual cannibalism. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.. Fil:Avigliano, E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Scardamaglia, R.C. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Pompilio, L. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v129_n_p80_Avigliano
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Mate choice
Parastagmatoptera tessellata
Praying mantid
Sexual cannibalism
Sexual conflict
behavioral ecology
cannibalism
cricket
environmental cue
female behavior
laboratory method
mate choice
reproductive success
research work
sexual conflict
abdomen
cannibalism
controlled study
eating
female
head
human
human experiment
hunger
male
Mantodea
mate choice
animal
decision making
Mantodea
physiology
sexual behavior
Mantidae
Mantodea
Animals
Cannibalism
Choice Behavior
Female
Male
Mantodea
Sexual Behavior, Animal
spellingShingle Mate choice
Parastagmatoptera tessellata
Praying mantid
Sexual cannibalism
Sexual conflict
behavioral ecology
cannibalism
cricket
environmental cue
female behavior
laboratory method
mate choice
reproductive success
research work
sexual conflict
abdomen
cannibalism
controlled study
eating
female
head
human
human experiment
hunger
male
Mantodea
mate choice
animal
decision making
Mantodea
physiology
sexual behavior
Mantidae
Mantodea
Animals
Cannibalism
Choice Behavior
Female
Male
Mantodea
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Avigliano, E.
Scardamaglia, R.C.
Gabelli, F.M.
Pompilio, L.
Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
topic_facet Mate choice
Parastagmatoptera tessellata
Praying mantid
Sexual cannibalism
Sexual conflict
behavioral ecology
cannibalism
cricket
environmental cue
female behavior
laboratory method
mate choice
reproductive success
research work
sexual conflict
abdomen
cannibalism
controlled study
eating
female
head
human
human experiment
hunger
male
Mantodea
mate choice
animal
decision making
Mantodea
physiology
sexual behavior
Mantidae
Mantodea
Animals
Cannibalism
Choice Behavior
Female
Male
Mantodea
Sexual Behavior, Animal
description Male reproductive success is obviously mate limited, which implies that males should rarely be choosy. One extreme case of a reproductive (or mating) cost is sexual cannibalism. Recent research has proposed that male mantids (Parastagmatoptera tessellata) are choosy and not complicit in cannibalism and that they modify behavior towards females based on the risk imposed by them. Since female cannibalism depends on females' energetic state (i.e. hunger) we investigated whether male mantids are capable of using environmental cues that provide information regarding the energetic state of females to make their mate choices. Under laboratory conditions, males were confronted individually with three options: a female eating a prey, a female without a prey, and a male eating a prey (as a control for the presence of prey). Each subject comprising a choice was harnessed and placed in the corners of a triangular experimental arena at an equidistant distance from the focal male. The prey was a middle size cricket that subjects ate in approximately twenty minutes. The behavior of focal males was recorded for six hours. Females were under the same deprivation regime and, in line with previous studies, consuming one cricket did not significantly increase females' abdomen girth. Male mantids significantly preferred females that were eating a prey. In all cases choices were made after the females consumed the whole prey. This suggests that males did not use the prey as a direct way to avoid being cannibalized by keeping the female busy. The preference for females that had recently fed may have evolved because of the potential reduction in sexual cannibalism. © 2016 Elsevier B.V..
format JOUR
author Avigliano, E.
Scardamaglia, R.C.
Gabelli, F.M.
Pompilio, L.
author_facet Avigliano, E.
Scardamaglia, R.C.
Gabelli, F.M.
Pompilio, L.
author_sort Avigliano, E.
title Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
title_short Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
title_full Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
title_fullStr Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
title_full_unstemmed Males choose to keep their heads: Preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
title_sort males choose to keep their heads: preference for lower risk females in a praying mantid
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v129_n_p80_Avigliano
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AT gabellifm maleschoosetokeeptheirheadspreferenceforlowerriskfemalesinaprayingmantid
AT pompiliol maleschoosetokeeptheirheadspreferenceforlowerriskfemalesinaprayingmantid
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