Abstract
In spiders, sperm transfer from the male to the female is indirect via secondary copulatory structures, the pedipalps. At the time of transfer the sperm are not mobile and the ejaculate needs to move through narrow male and female ducts to the female sperm storage organ. In addition, copulation duration can be very short, often limited to just a few seconds. Finally, sexual cannibalism and genital damage limits male life-time mating opportunities. These features of the reproductive biology in spiders are likely to result in sperm transfer constraints. Here we review the intrinsic and extrinsic sperm transfer limitations and conduct a meta-analysis on sperm transfer data from published data. Most of the information available relates to orb-web spiders, but our meta-analysis also includes non-orb-web spiders. Our review identifies some of the behavioural factors that have been shown to influence sperm transfer, and lists several morphological and physiological traits where we do not yet know how they might affect sperm transfer.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 417-428 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |
Volume | 135 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 13 Jan 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2022 |
Keywords
- copulation duration
- male and female morphological characters
- physiological limitations
- reproductive behaviours
- sperm quantification
- sperm transfer
- spider mating
- spiders