The chapter focuses on the understanding of the mechanisms of sperm competition, which are essential for interpreting nonrandom patterns of paternity and for predicting the types of adaptations that sperm competition can generate. P2 values are often used to infer the mechanism of underlying patterns of sperm utilization: intermediate values are taken as indicative of sperm mixing while higher values of P2 are taken as evidence for sperm precedence or sperm displacement. The bimodal distribution of P2 values seen in Lepidoptera is an excellent example of how little the mean value of P2 can tell us about the patterns of sperm competition. Patterns of sperm competition can change markedly with changes in the intervals between copulations. It is clear that males can adjust the numbers of sperm ejaculated into females, depending on female quality and/or the risks of sperm competition. Thus, patterns of sperm utilization depend on the behavior of males. Alternatively, they also depend on the responses of females to males that vary in their quality as mates. Variation in the numbers of sperm inseminated into the female prior to the final mating can have marked effects on the patterns of sperm utilization.

10 – Sperm Competition in Insects: Mechanisms and the Potential for Selection

Sperm competition and its evolutionary effect on copula duration in the fly Scatophaga stercoraria

4 – Male Mating Effort, Confidence of Paternity, and Insect Sperm Competition

Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) generally produce two types of spermatozoa: a typical nucleated (eupyrene) spermatozoon and a smaller anucleate (apyrene) spermatozoon. The apyrene sperm often predominate over the eupyrene sperm in an ejaculate and, in the female, they migrate actively to the sperm storage organ, the spermatheca. There they usually degenerate, apparently not playing any role in fertilization of the eggs. Several hypotheses for the function of the apyrene sperm have been proposed. These center around the notions that the apyrene sperm may assist the eupyrene sperm in their migration from the testes in the male to the spermatheca in the female or that they function as a nutritional supplement in the female. No experimental support for these notions has been adduced and observational evidence seems to argue against them. We propose that apyrene sperm may play, at least additionally, a role in competition between rival sperm deposited by different males. They may either eliminate, by displ...

Eunuchs: The Role of Apyrene Sperm in Lepidoptera?

Inherited Sterility in Lepidoptera

Genetic and cytogenetic basis of radiation-induced sterility in the adult male cabbage looper trichoplusia ni.

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Genetic and cytogenetic basis of radiation-induced sterility in the adult male cabbage looper trichoplusia ni.