Attractive males produce high‐quality daughters in the bean bug Riptortus pedestris

Abstract

AbstractThere are numerous studies on the genetic benefit of female mate choice. Fisherian benefits are detected frequently, in which attractive males benefit females by increasing the mating success of sons. In contrast, good‐genes benefits are relatively small or undetectable, especially as males often face a trade‐off between the expression of secondary sexual traits and viability. In this situation, the effects of good genes might be masked in their sons and, therefore, should be investigated in daughters. A previous study has shown that attractive males produce attractive sons (i.e., Fisherian benefit); the present study aimed to verify the existence of good‐genes benefits by revealing whether attractive males of the bean bug Riptortus pedestris (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Alydidae) produced high‐quality daughters. Male attractiveness was measured using courtship latency, and the fitness of the females and their offspring was measured based on their lifetime reproductive success as well as the longevity of the daughters. There was no evidence that females directly benefited from mating with attractive males. Whereas male attractiveness (i.e., courtship latency) did not affect nymphal viability or the longevity of daughters, the attractive males with lower courtship latency could produce the daughters with higher lifetime reproductive success. These results suggest that female mating preference in R. pedestris evolved via Fisherian and good‐genes benefits.