Paternity in horseshoe crabs when spawning in multiple-male groups

被引:40
作者
Brockmann, HJ [1 ]
Nguyen, C
Potts, W
机构
[1] Univ Florida, Dept Zool, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
[2] Univ Florida, Dept Pathol, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1006/anbe.2000.1547
中图分类号
B84 [心理学]; C [社会科学总论]; Q98 [人类学];
学科分类号
03 ; 0303 ; 030303 ; 04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Unpaired or satellite male horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, are attracted to and often form a group around a pair (a female with an attached male) that is nesting in the high intertidal zone. These males are engaged in sperm competition. We observed nesting pairs and their associated satellites in the wild, collected and reared their eggs and used genetic markers to examine paternity. We found that the unpaired, satellite males are highly successful at fertilizing eggs; two satellites can leave the attached male with few fertilizations. Two satellites together are each as successful as one spawning with a pair. A satellite's location around the female greatly affects his success, and males compete for access to a position over the dorsal canal between the prosoma and opisthosoma of the female and under the front margin of the paired male where they are most likely to fertilize eggs. Although eggs and sperm retain their viability for some time after spawning, nearly all eggs are fertilized by the satellites that are around the nesting pair at the time of egg laying and by the attached male. A number of factors including beach current, female size and male behaviour affect the outcome of sperm competition in this externally fertilizing species. (C) 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
引用
收藏
页码:837 / 849
页数:13
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