Abstract
Sexual mimicry among animals is widespread1,2, but does it impart a fertilization advantage in the widely accepted ‘sneak–guard’ model3 of sperm competition? Here we describe field results in which a dramatic facultative switch in sexual phenotype by sneaker-male cuttlefish leads to immediate fertilization success, even in the presence of the consort male. These results are surprising, given the high rate at which females reject copulation attempts by males, the strong mate-guarding behaviour of consort males, and the high level of sperm competition in this complex mating system4,5.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 52 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.83 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersson, M. Sexual Selection (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1994).
Saetre, G. P. & Slagsvold, T. Am. Nat. 147, 981–995 (1996).
Parker, G. A. in Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection (eds Birkhead, T. R. & Møller, A. P.) 3–54 (Academic, London, 1998).
Hall, K. C. & Hanlon, R. T. Mar. Biol. 140, 533–545 (2002).
Naud, M. J., Hanlon, R. T., Hall, K. C., Shaw, P. W. & Havenhand, J. N. Anim. Behav. 67, 1043–1050 (2004).
Norman, M. D., Finn, J. & Tregenza, T. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266, 1347–1349 (1999).
Naud, M. J., Shaw, P. W., Hanlon, R. T. & Havenhand, J. N. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (in the press).
Boal, J. G. Anim. Behav. 52, 529–537 (1996).
Shuster, S. M. Evolution 43, 1683–1698 (1989).
Fu, P., Neff, B. D. & Gross, M. R. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 268, 1105–1112 (2001).
Gross, M. R. Trends Ecol. Evol. 11, 92–98 (1996).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary movie (download MOV )
This movie shows a successful extrapair copulation by a small male cuttlefish in the presence of a large consort male that is fighting off another large rival male. The female mimic is in the bottom of the scene as it opens. Another mimic appears about halfway through the short movie. (MOV 1051 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hanlon, R., Naud, MJ., Shaw, P. et al. Transient sexual mimicry leads to fertilization. Nature 433, 212 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/433212a
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/433212a
