Mating strategies and aggressive combat in wingless neotropical fig wasp males

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the wingless males of pollinating (Pegoscapus tonduzi) and two nonpollinating fig wasp species, genus Idarnes, associated with figs (Ficus citrifolia) in Brazil to answer the following questions: 1) Do wingless males of Idarnes spp. and P. tonduzi show different male-male competition strategies?; and, 2) Do the injury within-species variables correlate with fig/population features? Consistently higher injury levels were observed in the two species of Idarnes than in the pollinator species. The results suggested that aggressive confrontations were involved in the mating strategies of Idarnes, whereas non-aggressive strategies were shown by males of P. tonduzi. Generally, injury variables in Idarnes spp. correlated positively with the male encounter rate and negatively with the fig size, thus supporting the contest competition theory. The results pointed out that different species under similar local conditions might follow distinct evolutionary histories. Within species, natural-history particularities might have some influence upon quantified injury levels in wingless males.