| Title: | Sexual attractiveness and reproductive performance in ageing females of a coccoid insect |
| Address: | "National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan jtabata@affrc.go.jp. Fukuoka Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, 587 Yoshiki, Chikushino, Fukuoka 818-8549, Japan" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1744-957X (Electronic) 1744-9561 (Print) 1744-9561 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Female age strongly influences reproductive success in various animals. Males are, therefore, expected to show preferential responses to sexual signals released from females of ages suitable for reproduction. Here, however, we report an unexpected and contradictory effect of ageing on sexual attractiveness and reproductive performance in a coccoid insect: the pheromone-based attractiveness of females increased with ageing, though their reproductive performance was in rapid decline. Surprisingly, senescent females continued releasing relatively high amounts of pheromone and maintained their sexual attractiveness, even at ages when they had almost completely lost fertility, with reduced densities of endosymbionts to support their physiology. Our dataset suggests a potential sexual conflict within a pheromone communication system, where females benefit at males' expense through deceptive signals of fertility" |
| Keywords: | "Aging Animals Female Fertility/physiology Male *Mating Preference, Animal Planococcus Insect/microbiology/*physiology Reproduction/physiology Sex Attractants/*metabolism Symbiosis ageing mating behaviour pheromone reproduction sexual conflict;Animals;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineTabata, Jun Teshiba, Mayumi eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/07/27 Biol Lett. 2018 Jul; 14(7):20180262. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0262" |
