Successive matings affect copulatory courtship but not sperm transfer in a spider model

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that males augment their reproductive success by increasing the number of femaleswith which they copulate, and that such copulations are not energetically demanding in terms of trivial spermproduction costs. However, we now know that males do pay reproductive costs. As males mate successively, a reductionin the performance of copulatory behaviours would be expected, as well as in the number of sperm transferred.Here we compared the duration of courtship, mating and post-insemination phase, the number of genital and nongenitalcopulatory courtship occurrences, and the number of sperm transferred in successive matings in Holocnemuspluchei spider males. As matings increased in males, there was no effect on the duration of courtship, mating orpost-insemination phase. Interestingly, genital copulatory courtship varied in successive copulations dependingon male size, but there was no change in the number of sperm transferred. In addition, the occurrence of nongenitalcopulatory courtship decreased along successive copulations. The negative effects of successive matings oncopulatory courtship indicate that these behaviours are costly for males, except for the number of sperm transferred.Our research lays the foundation for future studies on male costs as a function of mating history in spiders.