Spatial distributions of sexual competitors and potential mating partners have a large impact on sexual selection and mating systems. Typically, such effects are investigated with regard to male aggregations. However, females may also need to compete for mating opportunities. Here, we investigated the consequences of clustering and rival attractiveness on female mate attraction success under field conditions in a nocturnal beetle, the common glowworm, Lampyrus noctiluca. We placed dummy females of two glow intensity (attractiveness) levels either alone or in clusters of varying attractiveness compositions. We found that, by displaying alone rather than in a cluster, females have a higher probability of mating and greater potential to exercise mate choice. Within clusters, females of both attractiveness levels had the highest probability of mating when having neighbors of only the less attractive type. These results show that both the presence and attractiveness of rivals can strongly influence females’ mate attraction. The findings also suggest that the typical distribution of glowing females in the wild is better explained by female than male benefits. Hence, the results highlight the important links between spatial distribution of females, male mate searching, and sexual selection.

中文翻译：

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别管我：孤独的雌性在夜行性昆虫中吸引了更多的配偶

性竞争者和潜在交配伙伴的空间分布对性选择和交配系统有很大影响。通常，针对男性聚集体研究此类效应。但是，雌性可能还需要竞争交配的机会。在这里，我们研究了在夜光甲虫，常见的萤火虫，夜蛾（Lampyrus noctiluca）的田间条件下，成簇和竞争性吸引力对女性伴侣吸引成功的影响。我们将两个发光强度（吸引力）水平的假女性单独放置或放置在具有不同吸引力组成的群集中。我们发现，通过单独展示而不是成簇展示，雌性拥有更高的交配可能性和更大的选择伴侣的潜力。在集群中，两个吸引力级别的雌性在只具有吸引力较小的类型的邻居时交配的可能性最高。这些结果表明，竞争对手的存在和吸引力都可以强烈影响女性的伴侣吸引力。研究结果还表明，女性发光比男性发光更好地解释了野外发光女性的典型分布。因此，结果突显了女性的空间分布，男性伴侣的搜索和性别选择之间的重要联系。