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Copulatory behavior in a pholcid spider: males use specialized genitalic movements for sperm removal and copulatory courtship

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Abstract

Sexual selection may operate on pre-copulatory, copulatory, and post-copulatory traits. An example of a copulatory target of sexual selection is the genitalic movements a male performs during copulation. These movements may function either to prevent sperm competition or to influence a female’s fertilization decision. Here we investigated how copulation duration, pedipalp movements, and abdominal movements that males of the pholcid spider Holocnemus pluchei produce during copulation influence sperm removal and/or patterns of successful sperm transfer. We compared mating events with virgin and mated females for differences in copulatory and post-copulatory behavior. We expected longer copulation duration, longer pedipalp movement duration, and more complex and frequent pedipalp and abdominal movements when males mated with mated females compared to virgin females. Except for abdominal movements, our results corroborated these predictions. Furthermore, when we investigated mating events with mated females, we observed sperm mass ejection from the female gonopore and physical removal of sperm by males’ procursi. Females with interrupted second mating events showed a significant reduction of stored sperm masses compared to females with completed mating events. We suggest that males use alternating pedipalp movements to remove most of the rival sperm stored by mated females prior to sperm transfer. Copulation duration and pedipalp movements can be further used to transfer sperm and/or as a form of genitalic copulatory courtship.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Margarita Chiaraviglio and Cristina Sciocia for suggestions on the manuscript. The authors also acknowledge D. Vrech and P. Olivero for help during collecting and rearing. Financial support was provided by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, FONCYT, and Secretaria de ciencia y técnica–Universidad Nacional de Córdoba of Argentina and Agencia Nacional de Investigación, España. Four reviewers and Chris Anderson provided highly useful comments to previous versions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Biología Reproductiva y Evolución, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina

    Lucía Calbacho-Rosa & Alfredo V. Peretti

  2. Grupo de Ecología Evolutiva e da Conservación, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, EUET Forestal, Campus Universitario, 36005, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

    Ivette Galicia-Mendoza

  3. Laboratorio de Biología Reproductiva y Evolución, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina

    María Sofía Dutto

  4. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria, Distrito Federal, 04510, México

    Alex Córdoba-Aguilar

Authors
  1. Lucía Calbacho-Rosa
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  2. Ivette Galicia-Mendoza
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  3. María Sofía Dutto
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  4. Alex Córdoba-Aguilar
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  5. Alfredo V. Peretti
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lucía Calbacho-Rosa or Alex Córdoba-Aguilar.

Additional information

Communicated by: Sven Thatje

Electronic supplementary material

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Male carrying out alternating pedipalp movements, overview (MPG 3214 kb)

Male carrying out alternating pedipalp movements, detailed view (MPG 1720 kb)

Male carrying out simultaneous pedipalp movements (MPG 4272 kb)

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Calbacho-Rosa, L., Galicia-Mendoza, I., Dutto, M.S. et al. Copulatory behavior in a pholcid spider: males use specialized genitalic movements for sperm removal and copulatory courtship. Naturwissenschaften 100, 407–416 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1038-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1038-1

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