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Abstract
Polyandry, the practice of females mating with multiple males, is a strategy found in many insect groups. Whether it increases the likelihood of receiving beneficial genes from male partners and other potential benefits for females is controversial. Strepsiptera are generally considered monandrous, but in a few species females have been observed copulating serially with multiple males. Here we show that the offspring of a single female can have multiple fathers in two Strepsiptera species: Stylops ovinae (Stylopidae) and Xenos vesparum (Xenidae). We studied female polyandry in natural populations of these two species by analysis of polymorphic microsatellite loci. Our results showed that several fathers can be involved in both species, in some cases up to four. Mating experiments with S. ovinae have shown that the first male to mates with a given female contributes to a higher percentage of the offspring than subsequent males. In X. vesparum, however, we found no significant correlation between mating duration and offspring contribution. The prolonged copulation observed in S. ovinae may have the advantage of reducing competition with sperm from other males. Our results show that monandry may not be the general pattern of reproduction in the insect order Strepsiptera.
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1 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Entomology Group, Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Jena, Germany (GRID:grid.9613.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 1939 2794); University of Freiburg, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Freiburg, Germany (GRID:grid.5963.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0491 7203); Jena University Hospital, Institute for Anatomie I, Jena, Germany (GRID:grid.275559.9) (ISNI:0000 0000 8517 6224)
2 University of Freiburg, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Freiburg, Germany (GRID:grid.5963.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0491 7203)
3 Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia (GRID:grid.510150.0)
4 University of Hohenheim, Institute for Biology (190T), Stuttgart, Germany (GRID:grid.9464.f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2290 1502)
5 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Entomology Group, Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Jena, Germany (GRID:grid.9613.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 1939 2794)