Abstract
Abstract Copulation duration varies greatly in wolf spider species, ranging from a few seconds to several hours. In Pardosa agrestis (Araneae, Lycosidae), the most common ground dwelling spider in Central European fields, copulation typically takes more than two hours. Since long copulation is likely to entail certain costs, we address the question, “what is the function of long copulations?” We investigated the consequences of lengthy copulation in an experimental situation, where copulations either ended spontaneously, or were interrupted after 10 min, 40 min or 90 min. There was no difference in the number of offspring per female when treatments were compared and we conclude that ten minutes of copulation was sufficient to fertilize all the eggs of a female. Long copulations should therefore have other functions than securing the necessary amount of sperm for fertilization. We also found that neither the time until egg production after copulation, nor offspring size was affected by copulation duration....
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