Abstract
Male monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, produce a spermatophore which can represent approximately 10% of their body mass. Spermatophore mass increased with age in virgin males, and with the time since last mating in non-virgin males. Male monarchs did not delay re-mating until they were able to produce a large spermatophore. Recently mated males were as likely as virgins to copulate with both virgin and non-virgin females. Monarchs provide an example of Bateman's principle, mating whenever possible, despite the non-trivial cost involved.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1384-1388 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Animal Behaviour |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1988 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:I thank O. R. Taylor for provoking my interest in butterfly sexual selection, and for suggesting the monarch as a good study species. P. Abrams, D. Alstad, D. G. Brown, J. Curtsinger, B. Edinger, W. Herman, D. F. McKinney, R. Rutowski, O. R. Taylor, C. Sun and one anonymous reviewer provided advice on the research and/or manuscript, and D. Alstad, W. Herman, P. Oberhauser, S. Oberhauser and Bachlan Thi Ly provided field and rearing assistance. This research was supported by the James W. Wilkie Fund for Natural History administered by the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota.