Sex-specific rejection in mate-guarding pair formation in the intertidal copepod, Tigriopus californicus.

Sex-specific rejection in mate-guarding pair formation in the intertidal copepod, Tigriopus californicus.

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Securing a potential mate is one of the most important processes in sexual reproduction of animals.Intertidal copepods of the genus Tigriopus show mate-guarding behavior where a male captures a female and continues to clasp her for up to two weeks prior to copulation.Although these copepods form a mate-guarding pair between a male and a female with high accuracy, interactions between the sexes in pair formation have not been well described and the mechanism allowing successful male-female pair formation is not yet understood.In this study, we performed experiments with Tigriopus californicus to analyze the behavior of both a capturer (male) and a captured individual (female or male) in formation of a guarding pair.

While capturer citronella horse shampoo males were attracted by both females and males, capture of virgin males was terminated in a significantly shorter time than that of virgin females.However, when presented freshly killed females or males, regardless of the sex of the body, capturer males continued to clasp the body for a comparable time as in an attempt on a living female.Our results suggest that a sex-specific rejection signal actively sent by captured males prevents male-male pair formation.Experiments also suggest that mated females reject an attempt of pair formation.

To our knowledge, this is the first study getpureroutine.com to suggest involvement of active rejection by a captured individual in facilitation of reproductively successful male-female guarding pair formation in the genus Tigriopus.