Yu Xin, Rivas-Torres Anais, Cordero-Rivera Adolfo
Universidade de Vigo, ECOEVO Lab, E. E. Forestal, Campus Universitario, Pontevedra 36005, Spain.
College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, People's Republic of China.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 Jun 12;11(6):240144. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240144. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Males display phenotypic characteristics that may be associated with their quality, allowing non-random mating and post-copulatory female choice. In the damselfly , males have a conspicuous pink colouration in the underside of abdominal segments 8-10, which they exhibit during pre- and post-copulatory courtship. We hypothesized that this colouration functions to increase male mating success and/or to elicit females to oviposit. We estimated mating and oviposition success of 27 males, and on the following day, treated males had their segments 8-10 painted black and control males the seventh segment. We recorded the number of male-male fights and courtships, whether the courtship ended in copulation, and whether the female remained in the territory and laid eggs. Our results indicate that the mating success of male was not significantly affected by the removal of the pink colouration of the abdominal tip, but this colouration clearly affected their success in enticing females to oviposit. Courtship frequency, fat content and muscle mass were positively correlated to male mating rate, and the number of aggressive encounters was negatively correlated. Our study yields experimental evidence for the function of pink colouration of male , in the context of post-copulatory sexual selection.
雄性表现出可能与其质量相关的表型特征，这使得交配并非随机进行，且雌性在交配后会进行选择。在豆娘中，雄性腹部第8至10节腹面有明显的粉红色，它们在交配前和交配后的求偶过程中都会展示这种颜色。我们推测这种颜色的作用是提高雄性的交配成功率和/或促使雌性产卵。我们估计了27只雄性的交配和产卵成功率，在第二天，对处理组雄性的第8至10节进行涂黑处理，对照组雄性的第7节进行涂黑处理。我们记录了雄性之间争斗和求偶的次数、求偶是否以交配结束，以及雌性是否留在领地并产卵。我们的结果表明，去除腹部尖端的粉红色对雄性的交配成功率没有显著影响，但这种颜色明显影响了它们吸引雌性产卵的成功率。求偶频率、脂肪含量和肌肉质量与雄性交配率呈正相关，攻击性遭遇次数与交配率呈负相关。我们的研究为雄性粉红色在交配后性选择背景下的功能提供了实验证据。
