Theory suggests that male fitness generally increases steadily with mating rate, while one or
a few matings are sufficient for females to maximize their reproductive success. Contrary to …

Nuptial feeding encompasses any form of nutrient transfer from the male to the female
during or directly after courtship and/or copulation. In insects, nuptial gifts may take the form …

The past decade has seen a profound change in the scientific understanding of
reproduction. The traditional view of reproduction as a joint venture undertaken by two …

We develop the logic of assessment of sperm competition risk by individual males where the
mechanism of sperm competition follows a 'loaded raffle'(first and second inseminates of a …

This paper investigates mechanisms of sperm competition by comparing reproductive
characteristics across 74 butterfly species. Testis size scales with body size and, after …

Abstract. Sperm competition theory argues that the number of sperm inseminated into a
female by a male is a trade-off between two opposing pressures. On the one hand, the risk …

1. In taxa in which several males mate with a fertile female, males have larger testes relative
to their body size than do males of taxa where only one male normally mates. However …

Despite being variable, reproductive environments may be predictable. Because of this
variability, individuals may maximize fitness through phenotypic plasticity. Here, I describe …

The gametic strategy of males comprises the amount of energy invested per sperm, the total
amount invested in sperm production, and the pattern of sperm allocation among successive …

Female Mediterranean fruit flies were mated with (1) males that had been maintained in
isolation or (2) males that had been maintained in pairs. In the latter case, the males were …