Fitness Implications of Nonlethal Injuries in Scorpions: Females, but Not Males, Pay Reproductive Costs

AbstractThe ability to detach a body part in response to a predation attempt is known as autotomy, and it is perhaps the most intensively studied form of nonlethal injury in animals. Although autotomy enhances survival, it may impose reproductive costs on both males and females. We experimentally investigated how autotomy affects the reproductive success of males and females of a scorpion species. Individuals of Ananteris balzani autotomize the last abdominal segments (the tail), losing the anus and leading to lifelong constipation, since regeneration does not occur. Although the male tail is used during courtship and sperm transfer, autotomy has no effect on male mating success. The combined effect of increased mortality and reduced fecundity resulted in autotomized females producing nearly 35% fewer offspring than intact females. In conclusion, the negative effects of tail autotomy are clearly sex dependent, probably because the factors that influence reproductive success in males and females are markedly different.