Male beetles neglect their genomes when competing for females (IMAGE)
Caption
Two mating couples of Callosobruchus maculatus seed beetles deriving from an inbred black strain (left) or a wildtype strain (right). The males (outer-left and outer-right) have inserted their genitalia into the female. The mating may last several minutes, during which the male transfers ca. 50,000 sperm in an ejaculate that weighs approximately 6% of his own body weight. In the study, sperm from the two types of males competed for fertilization of females’ eggs, and paternity of the fathers (and hence, how successful they were in sperm competition) could be assigned based on the color morph of the offspring.
Credit
Mareike Koppik (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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Credit must be given to the creator.
License
CC BY