DOI: 10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t17
title: Data from: pre-copulatory choices drive post-copulatory decisions: mechanisms of female control shift across different life stages

description: The ‘wallflower’ hypothesis proposes females mate indiscriminately to
 avoid reproductive delays. Post-copulatory mechanisms may then allow
 ‘trading up’, favouring paternity of future mates. We tested links between
 pre- and post-copulatory choice in Latrodectus geometricus female spiders
 paired sequentially with two males. These females copulate as adults or as
 subadults and store sperm in paired spermathecae. Choosy adults have a
 higher risk of delays to reproduction than subadults. We predicted low
 pre-copulatory, but high post-copulatory choice at first matings for
 adults and the opposite for subadults. At second matings, we expected all
 females would prefer males superior to their first. We found all females
 mated indiscriminately at their first pairing, but in contrast to
 subadults, adults usually copulated only once (leaving one spermatheca
 empty); a mechanism of post-copulatory choosiness. Adult-mated females
 were more likely to remate than subadult-mated (adult) females, showing a
 preference for larger males, while subadult-mated females tended to prefer
 males in better condition. Our results show that the ‘wallflower’ effect
 and ‘trading up’ tactics can be linked, allowing females to employ choice
 even if rejecting males is costly.
description: Data were
 collected in a laboratory experiment in which brown widow females each
 mated with two males: First, subadult and
 adult females mated with naive males. Next, adult
 females who had previously mated either as a subadult or adult related
 with new naive males. Mating trials were
 video recorded and the occurrence and timing of courtship and mating
 behaviours were scored by an observer. See the paper for full details of
 data collection and analysis.
description: All analyses were conducted in RStudio 2021.09.2 build 382 using
 R version 4.2.1<br><br>The R following packages were
 used:<br>    car<br>    dplyr<br>    effects<br>  
  emmeans<br>    multcomp<br>    sjPlot<br>  
  survival
description: # Data from: pre-copulatory choices drive post-copulatory decisions:
 shifting mechanisms of female control across adult and subadult mating in
 brown widow spiders # First Author Contact Information Name: Lenka
 Sentenska Institution: University of Toronto Scarborough Email:
 [sentenska.lenka@gmail.com](mailto:sentenska.lenka@gmail.com) # Date of
 data collection: 2021 # Geographic location of data collection:
 Scarborough, Ontario, Canada ## Description of the Data and file structure
 File List: Data is contained in the file: remating-data.csv R code for the
 analysis is in the files: remating-analyses.R; and remating-analyses.txt R
 code output for the analysis is in the file: remating-analyses.docx ##
 Methodological information Description of methods used for
 collection/generation of data: Data were collected in a laboratory
 experiment in which brown widow females each mated with two males: First,
 subadult and adult females mated with naive males. Next, adult females who
 had previously mated either as a subadult or adult related with new naive
 males. Mating trials were video recorded and the occurrence and timing of
 courtship and mating behaviours were scored by an observer. See paper for
 full details of data collection and analysis. Description of methods used
 for analysis of data: All analyses were conducted in RStudio 2021.09.2
 build 382 using R version 4.2.1 The R following packages were used: car
 dplyr effects emmeans multcomp sjPlot survival DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
 FOR: remating-data.csv Number of variables: 24 Number of cases/rows: 138
 Variable List: 'pairing' (categorical): female mating
 opportunity ('first' or 'second' exposure to a male)
 'Mating' (categorical): female mating ('first' or
 'second' time the female actually mated; if the female did not
 mate in the first pairing her second pairing was her first mating)
 'stage' (categorical): stage of female during the first pairing
 ('adult' or 'subadult')
 'precopulatory_canib' (binary): occurrence of pre-copulatory
 cannibalism (0 or 1) 'copulatory_canib' (binary): occurrence of
 copulatory cannibalism (0 or 1) 'insertion_no' (integer): number
 of insertions of the male's copulatory organs 'mate'
 (binary): occurrence of at least one insertion (0 or 1)\
 'mount_no' (integer): number of times the male mounted the
 female's abdomen prior to the first insertion 'lunge'
 (integer): number of times the female lunged at the male prior to the
 first insertion 'flick' (integer): number of times the female
 flicked her front legs at the male prior to the first insertion
 'twitch' (integer): number of times the female twitched her
 abdomen prior to the first insertion 'female_age' (integer): age
 of the female in days after the moult to maturity (negative values
 indicate subadult females prior to moulting) 'male age'
 (integer): age of the courting male in days after the moult to maturity
 'male_weight' (numeric): mass of the courting male in mg
 'days_between_mating' (integer): time between the first and
 second pairing in days 'ins_latency'(numeric): time from the
 start of the trial until the first insertion, in seconds
 'mount_latency' (numeric): time from the start of the trial
 until the first time the male mounted the female's abdomen, in
 seconds 'proximal_courtship' (numeric): time from the first
 mount to the first insertion, in seconds (= 'ins_latency' -
 'mount_latency') 'female_id' (categorical): unique
 identifier for individual females (each female appears twice in the
 dataset) 'male_id' (categorical): unique identifier for
 individual males (each male appears once in the dataset)
 'male_leg_length' (numeric): tibia-patella length of the
 courting male in mm 'plug_no' (integer)': number of sperm
 plugs (broken-off tips of male copulatory organs) present in the
 female's genitalia after mating with two males (min = 0; max = 4)
 'male_tips_missing' (integer): number of missing tips of
 copulatory organs (potential sperm plugs) after males mated (min = 0; max
 = 2) 'tips_deposited' (categorical): number of sperm plugs that
 could be assigned to a given male based on the number of tips missing from
 his copulatory organs, those missing from the other male who mated the
 same female, and plugs present in the female's genitalia (possible
 values: '0', '1', '2', '0 or 1',
 '1 or 2', '0, 1 or 2'