Spider mite males undress maturing females to win the first mating


Date:
July 7, 2023
Source:
Cell Press
Summary:
In males of many species, it pays to identify females that are
nearing maturity to be the first in line for mating. Now researchers
have found a remarkable example: male spider mites guard and then
actively strip off the skin of premature females that are soon to
molt and mature to make them accessible for mating sooner.


Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email

==========================================================================
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In males of many species, it pays to identify females that are nearing
maturity to be the first in line for mating. Now researchers reporting
in the journal iScience on July 7 have found a remarkable example: male
spider mites guard and then actively strip off the skin of premature
females that are soon to molt and mature to make them accessible for
mating sooner.

"Our study documents an exceptional male behavior in the animal kingdom,
namely that male spider mites strip off the skin of premature females that
are close to molting into adulthood," said Peter Schausberger from the University of Vienna, Austria. "Such undressing behavior by the male is adaptive -- that is, it increases their reproductive success -- because
it would be an enormous cost to the guarding male if a rival would take
away the female and inseminate her instead of the male that invested
time and energy in guarding her. The guards would have invested hours in guarding a potential future mate without any reward." In spider mites,
the competition for first mating is especially intense, Schausberger
explained. That's because the first copulation partner of a female is
the one that sires all the offspring. In fact, the males only sire the daughters because sons arise from unfertilized eggs. Because of this
intense competition to be number one, spider mite males guard premature
females for several hours before the females molt to the adult stage.

"For about one or two hours before molting, the females take on a silvery appearance because of air filling the gap between the old skin, called
exuvia, and the new skin; in this phase the guarding males change their behavior - - sometimes they drum with their forelegs on the females,
possibly to stimulate the females to initiate the molting process,
and make the females bulge and crack the exuvia," Schausberger said.

"Upon cracking the exuvia, the guarding male becomes highly active and
pulls on the hind part of the old skin with his pedipalps until it is
removed from the female body and the genital opening of the female,
which is located on the underside of the tip of her abdomen, is exposed
so that the male can slip beneath the female and insert his aedeagus,"
he continued. "Females that are undressed by a male first get rid of the
hind part of the old skin because of male pulling, whereas females that
molt without the help of a male first pull out from the front part of
the old skin." Schausberger and colleagues are generally interested in
sexual selection in spider mites, and especially alternative reproductive tactics by males, including fighting and sneaking. While observing and videotaping many male-male and male-female interactions, they noticed
the undressing behavior they've now described in detail.

The findings offer yet another example of the fascinating behaviors that
are driven by sexual selection, according to the researchers. They're also
a reminder that even tiny arachnids have highly sophisticated behaviors.

In future work, they hope to study the undressing behavior in more
detail to find out whether fighting males differ from sneakers in this behavior. They also want to find out what happens when males in the
process of undressing a female have to contend with rivals and whether
the undressing behavior acts as a signal to females of a male's quality.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Plants_&_Animals
# Mating_and_Breeding # Spiders_and_Ticks #
Behavioral_Science # Animal_Learning_and_Intelligence
o Earth_&_Climate
# Environmental_Science # Geology
* RELATED_TERMS
o American_Mink o Spaying_and_neutering o Mite o
Brown_recluse_spider o Hybrid o Green_Iguana o Giant_squid
o Black_widow_spider

==========================================================================

Print

Email

Share ========================================================================== ****** 1 ****** ***** 2 ***** **** 3 ****
*** 4 *** ** 5 ** Breaking this hour ==========================================================================
* Six_Foods_to_Boost_Cardiovascular_Health
* Cystic_Fibrosis:_Lasting_Improvement *
Artificial_Cells_Demonstrate_That_'Life_...

* Advice_to_Limit_High-Fat_Dairy_Foods_Challenged
* First_Snapshots_of_Fermion_Pairs *
Why_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali;_No_Tigers_in_Australia
* New_Route_for_Treating_Cancer:_Chromosomes *
Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found:_Prehistoric_Tools
* Astonishing_Secrets_of_Tunicate_Origins *
Most_Distant_Active_Supermassive_Black_Hole

Trending Topics this week ========================================================================== PLANTS_&_ANIMALS Insects_(including_Butterflies) Bacteria
Endangered_Animals EARTH_&_CLIMATE Air_Pollution Environmental_Policy
Ice_Ages FOSSILS_&_RUINS Cultures Early_Climate Human_Evolution


==========================================================================

Strange & Offbeat ========================================================================== PLANTS_&_ANIMALS Why_There_Are_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali_(and_No_Tigers_in_Australia) Number_Cruncher_Calculates_Whether_Whales_Are_Acting_Weirdly Fossils_Reveal_How_Ancient_Birds_Molted_Their_Feathers_--_Which_Could_Help Explain_Why_Ancestors_of_Modern_Birds_Survived_When_All_the_Other_Dinosaurs Died EARTH_&_CLIMATE Turning_Old_Maps_Into_3D_Digital_Models_of_Lost_Neighborhoods Squash_Bugs_Are_Attracted_to_and_Eat_Each_Other's_Poop_to_Stock_Their Microbiome How_Urea_May_Have_Been_the_Gateway_to_Life FOSSILS_&_RUINS Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found_on_Rare_Ice_Age_Site_in_Kent,_UK Apex_Predator_of_the_Cambrian_Likely_Sought_Soft_Over_Crunchy_Prey Newly_Discovered_Jurassic_Fossils_in_Texas Story Source: Materials
provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Peter Schausberger, Thi Hanh Nguyen, Mustafa Altintas. Spider
mite males
undress females to secure the first mating. iScience, 2023; 107112
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107112 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230707111643.htm

--- up 1 year, 18 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)