Reproductive competition and sexual selection in horseshoe crabs

62Citations
Citations of this article
39Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

The four species of horseshoe crabs share many similarities but differ in the intensity of reproductive competition. Although all horseshoe crabs nest synchronously, only Limulus polyphemus, the American horseshoe crab, has intense male-male competition (high operational sex ratios and multi-male groups around nesting pairs) and very high female nesting densities. These differences in reproductive competition are reflected in differences between American and Asian species (Tachypleus gigas, T. tridentatus, or Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) in their reproductive structures and in egg and sperm size. However, the American and Asian species do not differ in the degree of sexual dimorphism in body size. The intensity of reproductive competition is correlated with nesting density in L. polyphemus, but this is not the case in the Asian species, which rarely have multi-male groups or highly male-biased operational sex ratios. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009. All rights reserved.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Brockmann, H. J., & Smith, M. D. (2009). Reproductive competition and sexual selection in horseshoe crabs. In Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs (pp. 199–221). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89959-6_12

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free