Abstract
Females and parental males commonly discriminate among potential mates. Male discrimination is often assumed to be lacking in species with non-parental males. However, male competition in these species may favour male discrimination since indiscriminate matings may waste time and energy. Males in such species should attempt to maximize their fertilization rates; females in such species should mate only with males able to enhance female reproductive success. Males of the Socorro isopod, Thermosphaeroma thermophilum, engage in precopulatory guarding, preferring larger, more fecund females and females near a reproductive moult. Males also guard post-moult females. Large males prevail when usurping or resisting usurpation, and guard large females. Females may choose mates by selective resistance to insemination attempts.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 698-707 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Animal Behaviour |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1981 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Animal Science and Zoology