Effects of Body Size and Repeated Matings on Female Milkweed Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Reproductive Success

Abstract

For female red milkweed beetles, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus (Forster), body size is positively correlated with the number of larvae produced per day and during an individual's lifetime. As a result there is a potential reproductive advantage to males of mating with larger females. The data provide no evidence for increased reproductive success of females who mate with larger males. Females that mate often lay a higher proportion of fertile eggs than females that mate only once. Repeated matings also increase lifetime fecundity. Possible mechanisms for this increase in the number of larvae produced by females that mate more than once are discussed.