Male mate choice and patterns of paternity in the polyandrous, sexually cannibalistic orb-web spider Nephila plumipes

Abstract

Studies that investigate patterns of paternity in polyandrous species typically employ double-mating trials, in which the paternity share of each male is established by either the sterile male technique or using genetic markers. However, polyandrous females may mate with more than two males and, in some species, triple-mating trials produce different patterns of paternity from double-mating trials. We investigated patterns of paternity share in triple-mating trials of the sexually cannibalistic orb-web spider Nephila plumipes. These experiments reveal little quantitative changes to paternity share when more than two males mate with the female; the third male apparently diluted the fertilisat..