Disentangling a shared trait: male control over mate guarding duration revealed by a mate exchange experiment

The Effects of a Male Audience on Male and Female Mating Behaviour in the Blood-Sucking Bug Rhodnius prolixus

Social context is a key factor affecting sexual behaviour and cannot be neglected in gregarious species, such as triatomine blood-sucking bugs. Here we study the influence of the social context on the sexual reproductive behaviour of males and females of Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Specifically, we identify and compare the frequencies and sequence of sexual behaviours exhibited by a focal pair in presence or absence of a male audience. We expect that in presence of a male audience females increase their selectiveness level since the risk of losing infertile eggs decreases in presence of more candidates and females can benefit from copulating with a better quality male. Besides, in presence of potential rivals, we expect changes in the sexual behaviour of focal males, associated to a reduction in the risk of sperm competition. As expected, in presence of a male audience, females significantly increased the exhibition of rejection behaviour. Moreover, focal males exhibited shorter latencies to mount the female, longer duration of copula, and differences in their stereotyped behaviour exhibited during copula. We discuss the influence of the social context on the reproductive behaviour of females and males of R. prolixus.