Abstract
Male genitalia are rapidly evolving structures, often driven by sexual conflict and/or sexual selection to increase fertilization success. Although sexual selection on females can be strong in systems where males provide offspring care or feed their mates, sometimes resulting in the evolution of female ornaments to acquire male investments, there are no studies of sexual selection on female genitalia. In New Zealand ground weta, Hemiandrus pallitarsis, females possess a genitalic device (the accessory organ) that is necessary for successful copulation and the acquisition of spermatophylax glandular gifts, which are probably important in avoiding starvation during a months-long period when caring for (their lifetime production of) eggs. Here, we test the hypothesis that the accessory organ is a sexually selected device in Hemiandrus pallitarsis by measuring the female Bateman gradient and directional sexual selection on the accessory organ (female mating frequency estimated from microsatellite analysis of offspring and/or stored sperm). As predicted, there was both positive Bateman gradients for females, and evidence of directional sexual selection on accessory organ length. Although organ length did not correlate well with female fecundity (eggs in abdomen), it may increase mating success by indicating maternal condition and thus quality of her offspring care.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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