Male moths undertake both pre- and in-copulation mate choice based on female age and weight

Abstract

Variation in reproductive potential usually occurs among individuals of both sexes; for example, some individuals may carry more gametes or be able to continue to generate more gametes in their reproductive life than others. Therefore, to maximize their reproductive success, both sexes are expected to show adaptations for mate choice. However, most authors concentrated on how females choose their mates with the belief that females invest more in reproduction than males, and males are generally eager to pair with any female. In this paper, we report our work on a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), with special emphasis on male pre- and in-copulation mate choice in relation to the reproductive quality and re-copulation potential of females. We show that in E. kuehniella, younger and heavier females have significantly higher reproductive value than older and lighter ones, and male sperm supply significantly decreases over successive copulations. Males exercise pre-copulation mate choice by selecting females with higher reproductive potential for copulation and in-copulation mate choice by allocating more sperm to females with higher reproductive potential. However, high-quality females are more likely to re-copulate than low-quality ones, and allocation of more sperm to females by males does not increase female reproductive outputs. It is suggested that the allocation of more sperm to high-quality females functions to increase sperm competitiveness against rivals.