Sexual selection is the responsible force for the evolution and maintenance of genital diversity and function. This is the case for example, of genital movements performed by males during mating and copulation duration. Spiders perform ritualized copulations whereby males carry out different types of movements using their pedipalps with varying duration. The function and duration of these pedipalp movements is unclear. In the pholcid spider, Holocnemus pluchei males that copulate with virgin females perform two copulatory phases: phase I in which the pedipalps move and phase II in which pedipalps remain motionless. Using H. pluchei as a study species, our study aims were: 1) to assess if sperm transfer occurs when pedipalps move or are still and quantify the number of sperm in male bulbs and in the female uterus externus after copulation; and, 2) to determine if amount of sperm transferred to females is associated with duration of each copulatory phase. Two experimental groups (i. e. complete copulation and interrupted copulation) were established in which the amount of sperm remaining in the male bulbs and the amount of sperm stored by females were determined. Our results show that sperm transfer occurs during phase I, that males transfer almost all sperm from their bulbs while the females store only 20% of that male amount. There was no relation between the amount of sperm transferred or stored and the duration of the copulatory phases. These results support the hypothesis that while both phases may serve a copulatory courtship, only phase I (when pedipalps move) serves for sperm transfer.

中文翻译：

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具有两个不同交配阶段的 Pholcid 蜘蛛的精子转移行为模式

性选择是生殖器多样性和功能进化和维持的负责力量。例如，雄性在交配和交配期间进行的生殖器运动就是这种情况。蜘蛛进行仪式化的交配，雄性使用它们的触须进行不同类型的动作，持续时间不同。这些触须运动的功能和持续时间尚不清楚。在 pholcid 蜘蛛中，与处女雌性交配的 Holocnemus pluchei 雄性执行两个交配阶段：第一阶段，其中触须移动，第二阶段，其中触须保持不动。使用 H. pluchei 作为研究物种，我们的研究目标是：1) 评估在触须移动或静止时是否发生精子转移，并量化交配后雄性球茎和雌性外子宫中的精子数量；和，2) 确定转移到雌性的精子数量是否与每个交配阶段的持续时间有关。建立了两个实验组（即完全交配和间断交配），其中测定了雄性球茎中剩余的精子数量和雌性储存的精子数量。我们的结果表明精子转移发生在第一阶段，雄性从它们的球茎中转移了几乎所有的精子，而雌性只储存了雄性数量的 20%。转移或储存的精子数量与交配阶段的持续时间之间没有关系。这些结果支持了这样的假设，即虽然两个阶段都可以用于交配求爱，但只有阶段 I（当触须移动时）用于精子转移。