DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb70
title: Data from: Adaptive significance of long mating with repeated intromissions in Zygogramma bicolorata

description: Long matings are abundant in insects despite the range of the costs
 involved. The causes and consequences of the evolution of long mating
 remain an interesting problem for behavioural ecologists. We studied
 extraordinarily long mating that involves repeated intromissions
 interspersed with latent periods in the Parthenium beetle (Zygogramma
 bicolorata). We conducted a series of interrupted mating assays to examine
 the fitness consequences of different components of this curious mating
 behaviour. We tested multiple adaptive hypotheses concerning male
 fertility and competitive ability. We found that sperm transfer and
 fertility did not exhibit a linear increase with the number of
 intromissions. There was also no evidence of nutrient transfer by the
 males. Interestingly, our results showed that both sexes suffered a
 significant cost of long mating. Further, female remating behaviour was
 found to be modulated by the length of previous mating. Additionally,
 males were observed performing a curious leg rubbing behaviour during the
 inter-intromission latent period, putatively serving as a copulatory
 courtship function that reduced female resistance to the continuance of
 mating. Therefore, we show that while the long mating may still serve a
 mate guarding role, there are additional fitness effects of such behaviour
 that need careful consideration. Our study provides insights into the
 adaptive significance of long mating and its fitness consequences.
description: The beetles were brought to the laboratory to setup a breeding
 population. Once established, the experiments were conducted by setting up
 mating trials. Most of the experiments were conducted in the laboratory. A
 few experiments, especially for mating behaviour characterization, were
 done outside the laboratory - under semi-natural setup. 
description: # Adaptive significance of long mating with repeated intromissions in
 Zygogramma bicolorata **Key to reading the data file:** Data used in the
 manuscript titled "Adaptive significance of long mating with repeated
 intromissions in Zygogramma bicolorata" can be found in the
 spreadsheet file named 'Data file". Data of different traits
 have been separated in different tabs. Sperm transfer, Fecundity and
 Hatchability data are from Experiment 1. Remating and Effect of time of
 the day data are from Experiment 2. Starvation survival and Egg size data
 are from Experiment 3. Leg rubbing data is from Experiment 4. Data are
 arranged vertically, with parameters measured/factors separated in
 columns. Abbreviations used in the spreadsheet and remarks: **Sperm
 transfer (sheet: sperm_count)** id: Female identity trt: Treatments
 total_sperm: Total number of sperm estimated from spermatheca, bursa
 copulatrix and oviduct **Fecundity (sheet: fecundity)** id: Female
 identity trt: Treatments fsum: Cumulative fecundity **Hatchability (sheet:
 hatchability)** id: Female identity trt: Treatments hsum: Total number of
 eggs hatched fsum: Cumulative fecundity meanhat: Mean hatchability olre:
 Observation level random effect **Remating (sheet: remating)** id: Female
 identity trt: Treatments ml: Remating latency/Mounting latency (Minute)
 il: Intromission latency (Minute) md: Remating duration (Minute) C41, P32
 (C30); C11, C42, P37 (C50); C23, P33 (Control) did not start intromission
 during remating. **Effect of time of the day (Sheet:
 remating_control_time)** time: time of first mating set ml: Mounting
 latency (Minute) md: Mating duration (Minute) **Egg size** day: Day 20
 post-mating when the eggs were measured trt: Treatments es: Egg size
 (micrometer square) **Starvation survival** id: Individual identity trt:
 Treatments time: Days survived under starvation status: Censoring sex: sex
 of the individual **Leg rubbing** id: Pair identity trt: Treatments ml:
 Mounting latency (Minute) il: Intromission latency (Minute) md: Mating
 duration (Minute) kpm: Kicks per minute mean_id_sec: Mean intromission
 duration (Second) mean_il_sec: Mean inter-intromission latency (Second)