Had a bite

Unlike spiders, for which partial castration gives strength [1], sexual self-mutilation in crickets takes away strength from males. In the sagebrush cricket Cyphoderris strepitans, during mating, females gnaw off the tips of the males' wings and absorb part of their hemolymph [2]. One explanation for this behavior is that damage to the wings provokes an immune response that weakens the male and prevents him from courting other females. To test this hypothesis, the researchers injected virgin males with a substance (lipopolysaccharide) that stimulates the immune system. It turned out that such males chirp significantly less often to attract females (this is an energy-consuming process) and they require significantly more time to mate. Research by the same group on another species of cricket, the ornate cricket Gryllodes sigillatus, also showed a link between the state of the immune system and courtship ritual: males with increased immune activity produce less spermatophylax, a gelatinous edible mass that the male uses during courtship. offers to the female as a gift.

M.G.

1. N. Reznik. Spiders and traffic jams. Troitsky option-Science No. 16 (110), 14.8.2012.
2. J.C.Leman,…,S.K.Sakaluk. Lovesick: immunological costs of mating to male sagebrush crickets. J. Evol. Biol. 22:163-171 (2009).
3. S.N.Gershman,…,S.K.Sakaluk. Give ’til it hurts: trade-offs between immunity and male reproductive effort in the decorated cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus.J. Evol. Biol. 23: 829-839 (2010).