LAUSR

In sexually reproducing organisms, assessment of potential reproductive partners can influence not only whether a reproductive event (hereafter “coupling” to include both internal and external fertilizers) occurs between two individuals but also the quantity and quality of offspring it generates. In response to variation in phenotypic traits, reproductive partners may alter the composition, transfer, or retention of ejaculate components, or of eggs produced [1]. These changes can affect the reproductive outcome including, in some cases, by affecting the behavior and/or physiology of the recipient long after coupling is over.[2] “Cryptic choice” after the beginning of coupling can result from assessing phenotypes before the coupling, or assessing physical, behavioral, or chemical traits during coupling (e.g., body weight or size, vibrations or stroking, pheromones, or reproductive tract secretions).[1] Although there are numerous studies of themale’s copulatory behaviors in this context, far less is known about the female’s. In many species, each sex displays stereotypical movement patterns during coupling. Male behaviors during coupling include those systematically documented in arthropods such as: tapping and stroking females with legs or antennae, and thrusting and squeezing with the genitalia.[1] These behaviors are hypothesized or demonstrated to associate with male reproductive success. Female arthropods’ behaviors during coupling include stridulation, shaking, and wing vibrations. For example, mating female spiders’ bursts of vibrations, produced by rapidly moving their pedipalps, are associated with changes in male behavior and post-copulatory reproductive success.[3] Peretti and colleagues proposed that this “copulatory dialogue” impacts male competitive fertilization success, but little is known about the components and consequences of copulatory dialogue in most species.