Abstract Elaborate sexually selected ornaments and armaments are costly but increase the reproductive success of their bearers (usually males). It has been postulated that high‐quality males can invest disproportionately more in such traits, making those traits honest signals of genetic quality. However, genes associated with such traits may have sexually antagonistic effects on fitness. Here, using a bulb mite Rhizoglyphus robini, a species in which a distinct dimorphism exists between males in the expression of a sexually selected weapon, we compare inbreeding and gender load between lines derived from armed fighters and unarmed scramblers. After four generations of sib‐mating, inbreeding depression for female fitness was significantly lower in fighter‐derived lines compared to scrambler‐derived lines, suggesting that fighter males had significantly higher genetic quality. However, outbred females from fighter‐derived lines had significantly lower fitness compared to outbred females from scrambler‐derived lines, demonstrating significant gender load associated with the presence of a sexually selected male weapon. Our results imply that under outbreeding, genetic benefits of mating with bearers of elaborate sexually selected traits might be swamped by the costs of decreased fitness of female progeny due to sexually antagonistic effects.

中文翻译：

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性选择的雄性武器与较低的近亲繁殖负荷有关，但球螨的性别负荷较高

摘要 精心挑选的性选择装饰品和武器价格昂贵，但可以提高其携带者（通常是男性）的繁殖成功率。据推测，高品质的雄性可以在这些性状上进行不成比例的更多投资，使这些性状成为遗传质量的真实信号。然而，与这些特征相关的基因可能对健康产生性拮抗作用。在这里，我们使用球螨 Rhizoglyphus robini，一种在性选择武器的表达中存在明显二态性的雄性物种，我们比较了来自武装战士和非武装扰乱者的品系之间的近亲繁殖和性别负荷。在四代同胞交配后，与扰乱者衍生品系相比，战斗机衍生品系中雌性健康的近交抑制显着降低，表明战斗机男性具有显着更高的遗传质量。然而，与来自加扰器衍生品系的远交雌性相比，来自战斗机衍生品系的远交雌性的适应性明显较低，这表明与性选择雄性武器的存在相关的显着性别负荷。我们的结果意味着，在远交情况下，与具有精心挑选的性状的后代交配的遗传优势可能会被雌性后代因性对抗效应导致的适应性下降的成本所淹没。