Polyandry and male mating history affect the reproductive performance of eriopis connexa (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Abstract

Insect polyandry often selects for increased male investment in ejaculates as it generates both sperm competition and the potential for cryptic (postcopulatory) female choice, a process males will seek to influence. Among the Coccinellidae, allomonal factors in male ejaculates are known to stimulate female fecundity and fertility and confer positive effects on the developmental phenotypes of progeny. We used the subtropical species Eriopis connexa (Germar) to test the hypothesis that male epigenetic factors will be diminished by sexual activity. We subjected virgin females to either a single mating, or 10 daily matings with the same male or different ones, either virgin or previously mated. There was no effect of male mating status or male novelty on female fecundity or fertility, but multiple matings with different virgin males resulted in faster production of clutches during the first 10 d of oviposition. When females were permitted only a single mating, their mean clutch size was diminished by males that had been previously mated two or more times and they took longer to produce 10 clutches, although egg viability was unaffected. Paternal effects did not vary with paternal mating history and progeny development was similar between first and tenth clutches, indicating an absence of the age-specific maternal effects observed in certain other species. The habitats occupied by this subtropical species provide prey for reproduction throughout the year and lack the strong seasonal patterns of prey availability that have been hypothesized to drive the evolution of age-specific maternal effects observed in some temperate species.