DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpgs
title: Bite force, body size, and octopamine mediate mating interactions in the house cricket (Acheta domesticus)

description: Mating interactions are rife with conflict because the evolutionary
 interests of males and females seldom coincide. Intersexual conflict
 affects sexual selection, yet the proximate factors underlying male
 coercive ability and female resistance are poorly understood. Male combat
 outcomes are often influenced by bite force, with superior biters being
 more likely to achieve victory over poorer biters in a range of species,
 including crickets. If good performers also achieve mating success through
 sexual coercion, then bite force might play a role in intersexual conflict
 as well. We tested the capacity of bite force to influence mating
 interactions in house crickets both directly by measuring bite forces of
 males and females and by altering male bite capacity through
 neuropharmacological manipulation. In addition, the invertebrate
 neurotransmitter octopamine both mediates aggression and underlies
 motivation to bite in male house crickets. By blocking octopamine
 receptors through the application of an antagonist, epinastine, we tested
 the effects of reduced bite force on male mating success. Our results show
 that male bite capacity, in combination with body size, influences both
 the likelihood and the outcomes of mating interactions, whereas treatment
 of males with epinastine eliminates motivation to mate. Our results
 suggest a functional role for bite force in affecting both sexual conflict
 and sexual selection and expand our knowledge of the influence of biogenic
 amines on reproductive behavior.   
description: The dataset was collected by using weight measurements of
 <em>Acheta domesticus</em> crickets along with the width of
 the pronotum base of the crickets as a size measurement. We used a
 flexiforce sensor to collect bite force measurement data on both male and
 female crickets.   The data was recorded in Microsoft
 Excel and processed using the R statistical coding software. 
description: # Bite force, body size, and octopamine mediate mating interactions in the
 house cricket (Acheta domesticus)
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpgs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpgs) Give a brief summary of dataset contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results. ## Description of the data and file structure #### GENERAL INFORMATION 1\. Title of Dataset: Bite force\, body size\, and octopamine mediate mating interactions in the house cricket \(Acheta domesticus\) 2\. Author Information          A. Principal Investigator Contact Information            Name: Fadeke Adeola            Institution: University of New Orleans            Address: New Orleans, LA USA            Email: fadeke95@outlook.com            B. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information             Name: Simon Lailvaux                     Institution: University of New Orleans                     Address: New Orleans, LA USA                     Email: slialvaux@gmail.com   3\. Date of data collection \(single date\, range\, approximate date\): 2017\-2019   4\. Geographic location of data collection: New Orleans\, Louisiana   5\. Cricket Sourcing: We ordered *Acheta domesticus* crickets from Fluker’s Farms in Baton Rouge Louisiana   6\. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: N/A #### SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1\. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: None   2\. Links to publications that cite or use the data:   Journal of Evolutionary Biology Bite force, body size, and octopamine mediate mating interactions in the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) DOI:10.1111/jeb.14226   None   3\. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None   4\. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None   5\. Was data derived from another source? No          A. If yes, list source(s): NA   6\. Recommended citation for this dataset:   Adeola, Fadeke (2023). Bite force, body size, and octopamine mediate mating interactions in the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) [Dataset]. Dryad. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpgs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpgs)   #### DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1\. File List:   A) cricketdatathis.csv B) BiteMateAchetaDomesticus.R C) Chapter-1-knit.pdf   3\. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: None   4\. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? No          A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: NA                    i. Why was the file updated? NA                    ii. When was the file updated? NA   ######################################################################### #### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: cricketdatathis.csv   1\. Number of variables: 27   2\. Number of cases/rows: 159     3\. Variable List: * trial: number assigned to the randomized pairing of male and female *Acheta domesticus* crickets * type:  number indication for treatments “1” control, “2” for epinastine treatments and “3” for octopamine treatments (unused) * mmass: male mass measurements taken in grams * mthorax: male throax measurements. The width of the pronotum base taken under a dissection scope (measurement units millimeters) * mbite: male bite force measurement taken on a TEKSCAN flexi force sensor. Maximum bite force after making them bite 5 times. Units in Newtons * fmass: female mass measurements taken in grams * fthorax: male throax measurements. The width of the pronotum base taken under a dissection scope (measurement units millimeters) * fbite: female bite force measurement taken on a TEKSCAN flexi force sensor. Maximum bite force after making them bite 5 times. Units in Newtons * massdiff: (mmass – fmass) difference in mass between males and females. Positive values indicate larger males of the pairing. Negative values indicate larger females of the pairing. * thoraxdiff: (mthorax - fthorax) difference in thorax measurements between males and females. Positive values indicate larger males of the pairing. Negative values indicate larger females of the pairing * bitediff: (mbite-fbite) difference in bite force measurements between males and females. Positive values indicate larger males of the pairing. Negative values indicate larger females of the pairing * matetime:  time in seconds of crickets mating (time of mounting till time of spermatophore packet attachment) * attachtime: time in seconds of the spermatophore packet is externally attached to the female crickets post mating * latency: total time in seconds crickets are paired * mmbite: male bite force measurement after they have mated taken on a TEKSCAN flexi force sensor. Maximum bite force after making them bite 5 times. Units in Newtons * mfbite: female bite force measurement after they have mated taken on a TEKSCAN flexi force sensor. Maximum bite force after making them bite 5 times. Units in Newtons * mbitediff: (mmbite – mfbite) bite force measurement after they have mated taken on a TEKSCAN flexi force sensor. Units in Newton. Positive values indicate larger males of the pairing. Negative values indicate larger females of the pairing * repeated: pair that did not interact the first pairing where re-tested within 48 hours * matetime2: time in seconds of crickets mating if paired a second time (time of mounting till time of spermatophore packet attachment) * attachtime2: time in seconds of the spermatophore packet is externally attached to the female crickets post mating * latency2: total time in seconds crickets are paired (when paired a second time) * init: time where crickets are paired until the time mounting is initiated * mated: Boolean value 1 = mated, 0 = did not mate * mprepostbitediff: (mbite – mmbite) male maximum biteforce post mating interaction subtracted from male maximum biteforce measurement pre-mating interaction * fprepostbitediff: (fbite – mfbite) female maximum biteforce post mating interaction subtracted from female maximum biteforce measurement pre-mating interaction * mglands: Area measurement of male accessory glands (# of pixels in glands / # of pixels in a cubic centimeter) * fglands: Area measurement of female accessory glands (# of pixels in glands / # of pixels in a cubic centimeter) * glanddiff: number of hummingbird individuals captured 4\. Missing data codes: NA   5\. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None ## Code/Software RStudio Version 2023.06.0+421 (2023.06.0+421) R Software R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31) For bite force measurements we used a ELF FlexiForce™ force sensors From the Tekscan company along with their software https://www.tekscan.com/force-sensors Websites for packages used: https://dplyr.tidyverse.org/ Dplyr A Grammar of Data Manipulation mutate(), filter(), etc. https://tidyverse.tidyverse.org/ The 'tidyverse' is a set of packages that work in harmony because they share common data representations and 'API' design. https://github.com/dnychka/fieldsRPackage The Fields Package provides tools for Spatial data https://plotly-r.com/ Creates Interactive Graphics https://broom.tidymodels.org/ Converts Statistical objects into Tidy Tibbles ``` ```