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Machado G, Burns M. Reproductive biology of harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones): a review of a rapidly evolving research field. Curr Zool 2024; 70:115-135. [PMID: 38476141 PMCID: PMC10926269 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/18/2022] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Harvestmen are a major arachnid order that has experienced a dramatic increase in biological knowledge in the 21st century. The publication of the book Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones in 2007 stimulated the development of many behavioral studies. Although the book is relatively recent, our understanding of the reproductive biology of harvestmen is already outdated due to the fast accumulation of new data. Our goal is to provide an updated review of the subject to serve as a benchmark for the following years. In the pre-copulatory phase, we explore the evolution of facultative parthenogenesis, the factors that may affect the types of mating system, and the role of nuptial gifts in courtship. Regarding the copulatory phase, harvestmen are unique arachnids because they have aflagellate spermatozoa and a penis with complex morphology. We discuss the implications of these two features for sperm competition and cryptic female choice. In the post-copulatory phase, we connect oviposition site selection and climate conditions to the widespread occurrence of resource defense polygyny, alternative reproductive tactics, and sexual dimorphism in several clades of tropical harvestmen. Finally, we present the different forms of parental care in the order, and discuss the benefits and costs of this behavior, which can be performed either by females or males. Throughout the review, we indicate gaps in our knowledge and subjects that deserve further studies. Hopefully, the information synthesized here will stimulate researchers worldwide to embrace harvestmen as a study system and to improve our effort to unravel the mysteries of their reproductive biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Glauco Machado
- LAGE do Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mercedes Burns
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Iyer P, Shukla A, Jadhav V, Sahoo BK. Anisogamy selects for male-biased care in self-consistent games with synchronous matings. Evolution 2020; 74:1018-1032. [PMID: 32342490 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2019] [Revised: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We reexamine the influential parental investment hypothesis proposed by Trivers for the causal relationship between anisogamy and widespread female-biased parental care. We build self-consistent versions of Maynard Smith's simple evolutionary game between males and females over parental care, and incorporate consequences of anisogamy for gamete production and its trade-off with parental care, and for patterns of mate limitation. As male mating opportunities are limited by females, frequency-dependent selection acts on male strategies. Assuming synchrony of matings in the population, our analytical models find either symmetric sex roles or male-biased care as an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), in contrast to Trivers' hypothesis. We simulate evolution in asynchronously mating populations and find that diverse parental roles, including female care, can be ESS depending on the parameters. When caring males can also remate, or when females can increase the clutch size by deserting, there is stronger selection for male-biased care. Hence, we argue that the mating-caring trade-off for males is neither a necessary consequence of anisogamy nor sufficient to select for female-biased care. Instead, the factors excluded from our models-costly competitive traits, sexual selection, and partial parentage-may be necessary for the parental investment hypothesis to work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priya Iyer
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India
| | - Abhishek Shukla
- Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada
| | - Vivek Jadhav
- Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab, 140306, India
| | - Bikash Kumar Sahoo
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India
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Lopes CF, Stefanello F, Bugs C, Stenert C, Maltchik L, Ribeiro JRI. Sexual dimorphism in Belostoma angustum Lauck (Insecta: Heteroptera: Belostomatidae) may be related to paternal care. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The structures involved in parental care are often dimorphic. Female Belostoma angustum water bugs lay eggs on the hemelytra of their mates, where the eggs are brooded until hatching. Males use their hind legs to carry, aerate and protect the eggs. After controlling for covariance between variables, we fitted a series of structural equation models (SEMs) and evaluated the existence of sexual dimorphism in the size of the body and hind legs, in the shape and centroid size of the hemelytrum, and among the static allometry slopes of the size-related differences. Landmarks were used to capture phenotypic variation, by eliminating all non-shape variations with a Procrustes superimposition. Neither the shape of the hemelytrum nor its centroid size was related significantly to the aforementioned linear body measurements. Instead, the differences in the size of the hind legs were mediated by body dimensions only in males. We also found that males were wider and had longer heads than females, according to the SEM intercept values. Our findings suggest that sexual dimorphism in B. angustum may be related to a balance between sexual role reversal and viability costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassiane Furlan Lopes
- Laboratório de Estudos da Biodiversidade do Pampa (LEBIP), Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus São Gabriel, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil
| | - Fabiano Stefanello
- Laboratório de Biologia Comparada e Abelhas, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Christian Bugs
- Laboratório de Estudos da Biodiversidade do Pampa (LEBIP), Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus São Gabriel, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil
| | - Cristina Stenert
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos, Cristo Rei, São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil
| | - Leonardo Maltchik
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos, Cristo Rei, São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil
| | - José Ricardo Inacio Ribeiro
- Laboratório de Estudos da Biodiversidade do Pampa (LEBIP), Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus São Gabriel, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil
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The good fathers: efficiency of male care and the protective role of foster parents in a Neotropical arachnid. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Costa JT. The other insect societies: overview and new directions. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2018; 28:40-49. [PMID: 30551766 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2018] [Revised: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The diversity of societies and forms of social interaction across the Arthropoda is commensurate with the great taxonomic diversity within this pylum. Social evolution research has, however, largely focused on a small subset of social forms; namely, those deemed to be 'eusocial'-groups exhibiting overlapping generations, cooperative brood care, and reproductive division of labor. Here I provide a brief overview of the 'other', non-eusocial, societies of insects and allies, defining the main social traits of interest and summarizing recent work. Four active and emerging fields of inquiry in the other insect societies are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- James T Costa
- Highlands Biological Station, 265 N. Sixth Street, Highlands, NC 28741, USA; Department of Biology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA.
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Ohba SY, Matsuo S, Huynh TTT, Kudo SI. Female mate preference for egg-caring males in the giant water bug Diplonychus rusticus (Heteroptera Belostomatidae). ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2018.1438517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shin-ya Ohba
- Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu 520-2113, Japan
- Biological Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
| | - Sayaka Matsuo
- Biological Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
| | - Thi T. Trang Huynh
- Department of Medical Entomology and Zoonotics, Pasteur Institute, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Shin-ichi Kudo
- Department of Biology, Naruto University of Education, Naruto, Tokushima 772-8502, Japan
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Requena GS, Alonzo SH. Sperm competition games when males invest in paternal care. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:rspb.2017.1266. [PMID: 28814658 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Sperm competition games investigate how males partition limited resources between pre- and post-copulatory competition. Although extensive research has explored how various aspects of mating systems affect this allocation, male allocation between mating, fertilization and parental effort has not previously been considered. Yet, paternal care can be energetically expensive and males are generally predicted to adjust their parental effort in response to expected paternity. Here, we incorporate parental effort into sperm competition games, particularly exploring how the relationship between paternal care and offspring survival affects sperm competition and the relationship between paternity and paternal care. Our results support existing expectations that (i) fertilization effort should increase with female promiscuity and (ii) paternal care should increase with expected paternity. However, our analyses also reveal that the cost of male care can drive the strength of these patterns. When paternal behaviour is energetically costly, increased allocation to parental effort constrains allocation to fertilization effort. As paternal care becomes less costly, the association between paternity and paternal care weakens and may even be absent. By explicitly considering variation in sperm competition and the cost of male care, our model provides an integrative framework for predicting the interaction between paternal care and patterns of paternity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo S Requena
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Suzanne H Alonzo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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