Paternity costs from polyandry compensated by increased fecundity in the hide beetle

Abstract

Polyandry-induced sperm competition is assumed to impose costs on males through reduced per capita paternity success. In contrast, studies focusing on the consequences of polyandry for females report increased oviposition rates and fertility. For these species, there is potential for the increased female fecundity associated with polyandry to offset the costs to males of shared paternity. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the proportion and number of offspring sired by males mated with monandrous and polyandrous females in the hide beetle, Dermestes maculates, both for males mating with different females and for males remating with the same female. In 4 mating treatments, monandrous fem..