Studies of the yellow dungfly in the 1960s provided one of the first quantitative demonstrations of the costs and benefits associated with male and female reproductive behaviour. These studies advanced appreciation of sexual selection as a significant evolutionary mechanism and contributed to the 1970s paradigm shift toward individual selectionist thinking. Three behaviours in particular led to the realization that sexual selection can continue during and after mating: (i) female receptivity to remating, (ii) sperm displacement and (iii) post-copulatory mate guarding. These behaviours either generate, or are adaptations to sperm competition, cryptic female choice and sexual conflict. Here we review this body of work, and its contribution to the development of post-copulatory sexual selection theory.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.

1960 年代对黄蜣螂的研究提供了与雄性和雌性生殖行为相关的成本和收益的首批定量证明之一。这些研究将性选择视为一种重要的进化机制，并促进了 1970 年代范式向个体选择主义思维的转变。特别是三种行为导致人们认识到性选择可以在交配期间和之后继续进行：（i）雌性对再交配的接受度，（ii）精子置换和（iii）交配后的配偶保护。这些行为要么产生，要么是对精子竞争、神秘的女性选择和性冲突的适应。在这里，我们回顾了这项工作，及其对后交配性选择理论发展的贡献。

本文是“精子竞赛五十年”主题刊的一部分。