A study from Macquarie University and The State University of New York has found that a male praying mantis may benefit from being eaten by their female mate as it allows them to allocate more of their own biological material in the female mantis’ eggs and also helps her to produce more eggs overall.
“Our study finds that praying mantis sexual cannibalism – where the female eats the male after they mate – actually allows the father mantis to have a greater biological influence over a higher amount of eggs,” explained Dr Kate Barry from Macquarie University, an author of the paper.
“When a female ate a male after a mating event, she was found to have around 17.7 per cent more of his biological material in her reproductive tissues, including her eggs and ovaries, than a female who only mated and did not cannibalise her mate,” said Dr Barry.
“This means that the mated cannibalised males actually provided more biological material towards their offspring than the males who only mated,” she added.
The researchers then explored whether the cannibalism process actually increased how many eggs a female produced.
“We found that cannibalistic females used the additional food provided by her eaten mate to produce an average of nearly 51 more eggs than a female who had not cannibalised her mate.
“This finding provides more evidence as to why sexual cannibalism may have evolved in praying mantis species, as the cannibalism process not only allows a male to have more biological influence over his offspring, but also means he could potentially fertilise more eggs from that female,” said Dr Barry.
The authors say that further research needs to be done to determine why males may opt for a sexual cannibalism scenario compared to a situation where they live to mate another day, given that a male forfeits the opportunity to mate with other females after he is eaten.
“Whether this is a mating strategy remains to be seen, although we can speculate that things like mate availability and the success of a single mating event might affect this.”
Brown, William D; Barry, Katherine L. Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. June 2016.
“Our study finds that praying mantis sexual cannibalism – where the female eats the male after they mate – actually allows the father mantis to have a greater biological influence over a higher amount of eggs,” explained Dr Kate Barry from Macquarie University, an author of the paper.
“When a female ate a male after a mating event, she was found to have around 17.7 per cent more of his biological material in her reproductive tissues, including her eggs and ovaries, than a female who only mated and did not cannibalise her mate,” said Dr Barry.
“This means that the mated cannibalised males actually provided more biological material towards their offspring than the males who only mated,” she added.
The researchers then explored whether the cannibalism process actually increased how many eggs a female produced.
“We found that cannibalistic females used the additional food provided by her eaten mate to produce an average of nearly 51 more eggs than a female who had not cannibalised her mate.
“This finding provides more evidence as to why sexual cannibalism may have evolved in praying mantis species, as the cannibalism process not only allows a male to have more biological influence over his offspring, but also means he could potentially fertilise more eggs from that female,” said Dr Barry.
The authors say that further research needs to be done to determine why males may opt for a sexual cannibalism scenario compared to a situation where they live to mate another day, given that a male forfeits the opportunity to mate with other females after he is eaten.
“Whether this is a mating strategy remains to be seen, although we can speculate that things like mate availability and the success of a single mating event might affect this.”
Brown, William D; Barry, Katherine L. Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. June 2016.
