Spider mite males undress females to secure the first mating

Peter Schausberger; Thi Hanh Nguyen; Mustafa Altintas

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107112

Spider mite males undress females to secure the first mating

iScience. 2023 Jul 7;26(7):107112. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107112. eCollection 2023 Jul 21.

Authors

Peter Schausberger¹, Thi Hanh Nguyen¹, Mustafa Altintas¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

Intense mate competition favors the evolution of extraordinary mating strategies such as the ability of males to identify premature females that are close to becoming mature and associate with them until they are sexually receptive (dubbed precopulatory mate guarding). Owing to possible take-overs by rival males, precopulatory guarding is a high-risk, time- and energy-intensive strategy. Here, we provide experimental evidence that guarding spider mite males undress females by actively removing the exuvia during ecdysis to adult; females undressed by guarding males eclose faster than unguarded females. Such behavior is adaptive because it maximizes the guard's chances of being the first mate.

Keywords: Entomology; Evolutionary biology; Zoology.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.22596940