Male ejaculates in insects include a complex array of substances other than sperm whose proximate functions have proven to be diverse. Some function as allohormones that manipulate post-mating female physiology and behaviour. As each sex pursues their own reproductive interests to maximise fitness, seminal allohormones are expected to promote outcomes ranging from reproductive cooperation to sexual conflict and antagonistic coevolution. Most research on the evolutionary importance of male seminal donations has targeted highly polyandrous species, and more research is needed on usually monandrous species. Here, we explore in the mostly monandrous moth Lobesia botrana if there is variation among males in their ability to influence female post-mating receptivity (PMR), if the trait covariates with the polyandry level of the parental strain and if it could be mediated by ejaculate composition when taking into account spermatophore size. To do this, we conducted controlled reciprocal crosses between field-collected mostly monandrous strains and laboratory-selected highly polyandrous strains. We found that laboratory strain males were significantly less efficient than field strain males at inhibiting female PMR, and that such variation covariate with the polyandry level of the parental strain. Male strain also influenced the duration of the female refractory period, fecundity and fertility being high and roughly similar. Between-strain differences in the ability of males to influence female PMR suggest an effect of seminal fluid composition and its underlying genetic variation in male strains. Further research is needed to assess whether male donations that regulate female PMR are widespread in monandrous insect species to better understand the wider evolutionary significance of these findings in L. botrana. The available evidence suggests that male-donated allohormonal substances (including parasperm) can influence/manipulate female PMR in insects. Most research on this issue has targeted polyandrous species, as it is often implicitly assumed that in monandrous species eupyrene sperm itself plays the key role in inhibiting female PMR. We studied whether male donations could have some allohormonal effect on female PMR in the usually monandrous moth Lobesia botrana. Controlled crosses between field-collected mostly monandrous strains and artificially selected highly polyandrous strains suggest that there is genetic variation in ejaculate composition-mediated male ability to influence/manipulate female PMR.

中文翻译：

---

雄性精液捐赠是否会在通常单调的飞蛾中塑造雌性交配后的接受能力？

昆虫中的雄性精液包括一系列复杂的物质，而不是精子，这些物质的相关功能已被证明是多种多样的。一些功能作为操纵交配后女性生理和行为的异体激素。由于每个性别都追求自己的生殖利益以最大化健康，因此精液异体激素有望促进从生殖合作到性冲突和对抗性共同进化的结果。大多数关于雄性精液捐赠进化重要性的研究都针对高度一妻多夫的物种，并且需要对通常一夫多妻的物种进行更多研究。在这里，我们在大多数单枝飞蛾 Lobesia botrana 中探索雄性在影响雌性交配后接受度 (PMR) 的能力方面是否存在差异，如果性状与亲本菌株的一妻多夫水平协变，并且在考虑到精囊大小时它是否可以通过射精成分介导。为此，我们在现场收集的主要是单雄性菌株和实验室选择的高度多雄性菌株之间进行了受控的互惠杂交。我们发现实验室品系雄性在抑制雌性 PMR 方面的效率明显低于野外品系雄性，并且这种变异与亲本品系的一妻多夫水平协变。雄性品系也影响雌性不应期的持续时间，繁殖力和生育力高且大致相似。雄性影响雌性 PMR 能力的品系间差异表明精液成分的影响及其在雄性品系中的潜在遗传变异。需要进一步的研究来评估调节雌性 PMR 的雄性捐赠是否在单一昆虫物种中广泛存在，以更好地了解这些发现在 L. botrana 中的更广泛的进化意义。现有证据表明，雄性捐赠的异体激素物质（包括副精子）可以影响/操纵昆虫的雌性 PMR。关于这个问题的大多数研究都针对一妻多夫物种，因为人们常常隐含地假设，在单一物种中，eupyrene 精子本身在抑制女性 PMR 方面起着关键作用。我们研究了雄性捐赠是否会对雌性 PMR 产生一些异体激素影响，这种影响通常是单一的蛾 Lobesia botrana。