Sexual selection in insects

These traits play a role in increasing male reproductive expectations by triggering male-male competition or influencing the female mate choice,[1] and can be thought of as functioning on three different levels: individuals, colonies, and populations within an area.

In honey bee the queens join the mating area alone and are then pursued by a dynamic swarm of males.

Competition for fertilisation of females occurs when males engage in trials of strength over the possession of breeding tunnels.

When ionizing radiation is applied to males, mutations are induced that reduce the expression of strength-related precopulatory sexual traits such as competition for breeding tunnels.

The eggs are large and reduce the ability of the male to fertilize other females and catch prey, and increases its predation risk.

Under scramble competition to inseminate females, the early matured males are smaller but can be favored in some cases where courtship occurs on the ground and attain the highest reproductive success.

In the green-veined white (Pieris napi), a virgin male can transfer an ejaculate containing 14% nitrogen by dry mass.

[2] Sexual pheromones are defined as odors and are one of the prevalent ways in which social male insects find females to mate with.

In the queen butterfly Danaus gilippus and the Arctic moth Utetheisa ornatrix, the chemical stimulation of the female is necessary for male mating success.

[1] In species such as the Coleopteran family Lampyridae, the males fly in the darkness and emit a species-specific pattern of light flashes, which are answered by perching receptive females.

In Xenomyrmex floridanus, the queen's venom glands and gasters both attracted males and prompted copulation.

When experimental populations of the red flour beetle were subjected to strong sexual selection for multiple years they became resilient to extinction.

It was concluded from these findings that sexual selection reduces mutational load, and by doing so improves population viability.