Costly mating delays drive female ornamentation in a capital breeder

Abstract

Abstract How fecundity might be traded off with mate attraction and other aspects of reproduction in females remains poorly understood. We investigated these allocation trade‐offs using the common glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca), a lampyrid beetle, in which flightless, sedentary females only use resources gathered during the larval stage to attract flying males by glowing. While sexual signaling was not found to have a significant fecundity cost, a delay in successfully attracting a mate greatly increased the risk of reproductive failure, with fecundity losses being more severe in small females. These findings are among the first to show that failure to quickly attract a mate can decrease female fecundity. The results also show how the length of delay before mating can drive the evolution of female sexual ornamentation.

Keywords

• capital breeder
• delayed mating
• fecundity
• female ornament
• Lampyris noctiluca
• sex role