Premium
Time constraints related to sexual maturation and prolonged copulation in the female‐dimorphic damselfly Ischnura senegalensis
Author(s) -
Takahashi Yuma,
Watanabe Mamoru
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
entomological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1479-8298
pISSN - 1343-8786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2012.00532.x
Subject(s) - damselfly , biology , sexual dimorphism , sexual maturity , ecology , zoology , sexual conflict , reproductive success , foraging , coenagrionidae , sexual selection , odonata , demography , population , sociology
Time constraints are critical for reproductive success. To understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of morph frequency in the female‐dimorphic damselfly Ischnura senegalensis , we compared two different morphs for two important time constraints on female reproductive output, i.e. post‐emergence sexual maturation and prolonged copulation. The females of both morphs achieved sexual maturation 4–5 days after emergence, suggesting that the rate of sexual mutation does not result in morph‐specific fitness. The copulation durations declined with the time of onset of copulation in both morphs. Consequently, all copulations terminated at approximately 12:00 hours. Because females show foraging and oviposition activity only after copulation, the copulation duration does not result in morph‐specific time constraints. These two important time constraints do not account for morph‐specific reproductive success and do not affect the evolutionary equilibrium of morph frequency in I. senegalensis .