Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026
07:10
Using the Fluorescent Dye, Rhodamine B, to Study Mating Competitiveness in Male Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes
Published on: May 7, 2021
No detectable fertility benefit from a single additional mating in wild stalk-eyed flies
Elisabeth Harley1, Kevin Fowler, Samuel Cotton
1Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Plos One
|December 24, 2010
Summary
Female stalk-eyed flies mating again did not improve fertility, suggesting other factors limit reproduction. This study tested fertility assurance in wild insects, finding limited benefits from additional mating due to ejaculate size and mating failures.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Behavioral Ecology
- Insect Reproduction
Background:
- Multiple mating in female insects is common, with benefits potentially including direct material gains or indirect genetic advantages.
- Fertility assurance via repeated mating is a key hypothesis, but it remains untested in natural insect populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether an additional mating event alleviates sperm limitation in wild female Malaysian stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni).
Main Methods:
- Experimental manipulation of mating frequency in wild female T. dalmanni.
- Comparison of fertilized egg production between females receiving one additional mating and a control group with an unsuccessful mating.
Main Results:
- Females receiving an additional mating did not show increased total or proportional fertilization.
- A significant decline in female fertility over time confirmed sperm limitation.
- The additional mating did not significantly alter the rate of fertility decline.
Conclusions:
- A single additional mating had minimal impact on fertility consequences in wild T. dalmanni.
- Small ejaculate size, high rates of failed copulations, and X-linked meiotic drive likely contribute to the limited effect of additional mating.
Related Concept Videos
01:17Understanding Species and Reproductive Barriers
A species is a group of organisms that interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Typically, individuals of the same species appear similar and share common characteristics due to their highly similar genomes. However, not all organisms that look alike are members of the same species. Various mechanisms keep most species discrete. While some mechanisms prevent reproductive behavior and fertilization (pre-zygotic isolation), others prevent the production of fertile offspring after mating has...
01:11Testing a Claim about Mean: Known Population SD
A complete procedure of testing the hypothesis about a population mean is explained here.
Estimating a population mean requires the samples to be distributed normally. The data should be collected from the randomly selected samples having no sampling bias. The sample size needed to be higher than 30, and most importantly, the population standard deviation should be already known.
In most realistic situations, the population standard deviation is often unknown, but in rare circumstances, when it...
Estimating a population mean requires the samples to be distributed normally. The data should be collected from the randomly selected samples having no sampling bias. The sample size needed to be higher than 30, and most importantly, the population standard deviation should be already known.
In most realistic situations, the population standard deviation is often unknown, but in rare circumstances, when it...