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Pheromone-based female mate choice and its effect on reproductive investment in a spitting spider

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Abstract

Numerous studies have focused on whether organisms can signal or perceive pheromones and use chemical signals in species and mate recognition. Recently, there have been an increasing number of studies investigating whether pheromones are used in mate choice. Yet, little attention has been paid in exploring the effects of pheromone-based mate choice on reproductive investment. We first tested this hypothesis by providing virgin Scytodes sp. females with a choice between two virgin males in the presence of chemical signals alone and found strong evidence of an odor-based mate preference. We then examined the consequences of the odor-based mate choice by allowing female Scytodes sp. that had previously made an odor-only mate choice to mate with preferred and non-preferred males, respectively. We measured the success of copulation, mortality of male, pre-oviposition interval, egg-sac weight, egg weight, fecundity, fertility, embryonic period, and size of offspring at hatching. Females that mated with the preferred males produced significantly heavier egg sacs that contained more and larger eggs with a greater fertility. Significantly more non-preferred males than preferred males were killed by spitting. However, pre-oviposition interval, embryonic period, and hatchling size were not affected by female mate choice. This study is the first to demonstrate that female spiders are able to regulate their highly valuable reproductive investment based solely on chemical signals.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Poh Moi Goh for the insect culture. This study was support by grants (R-154-000-104-112 and R-154-000-262-112) from Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF). We would like to thank Seok Ping Goh and Yuan Ting Choo for their insightful comments on the manuscript. We also thank the National Parks Board for the permit (NP/RP 732). The experiments comply with the current laws of Singapore.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Singapore

    Teck Hui Koh, Laura-Marie Y. L. Yap & Daiqin Li

  2. NUS High School of Math and Science, 20 Clementi Avenue 1, Singapore, 129957, Singapore

    Wee Khee Seah

  3. College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430062, China

    Daiqin Li

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  1. Teck Hui Koh
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Correspondence to Daiqin Li.

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Communicated by M. Elgar

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Koh, T.H., Seah, W.K., Yap, LM.Y.L. et al. Pheromone-based female mate choice and its effect on reproductive investment in a spitting spider. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 923–930 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0735-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0735-4

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