Strong male⁄male competition allows for nonchoosy
females: high levels of polygynandry in a territorial frog
with paternal care

Ursprung, E; Ringler, M; Jehle, R; Hoedl, W

Abstract

Our knowledge about genetic mating systems and the underlying causes for and consequences of variation in reproductive success has substantially improved in recent
years. When linked to longitudinal population studies, cross-generational pedigrees across wild populations can help answer a wide suite of questions in ecology and
evolutionary biology. We used microsatellite markers and exhaustive sampling of two successive adult generations to obtain population-wide estimates of individual reproductive
output of males and females in a natural population of the Neotropical frog Allobates femoralis (Aromobatidae), a pan-Amazonian species that features prolonged iteroparous breeding, male territoriality and male parental care. Parentage analysis revealed a polygynandrous mating system in which high proportions of males (35.5%) and females (56.0%) produced progeny that survived until adulthood. Despite contrasting reproductive strategies, successfully reproducing males and females had similar numbers of mating partners that sired the adult progeny (both sexes: median 2; range 1– 6); the numbers of their offspring that reached adulthood were also similar (both sexes: median 2; range 1–8). Measures of reproductive skew indicate selection on males only for their opportunity to breed. Reproductive success was significantly higher in territorial than in nonterritorial males, but unrelated to territory size in males or to body size in both sexes. We hypothesize that female polyandry in this species has evolved because of
enhanced offspring survival when paternal care is allocated to multiple partners.

Citation

with paternal care. Molecular Ecology, 20(8), 1759-1711. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05056.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2011
• Journal: Molecular Ecology
• Print ISSN: 0962-1083
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 1759-1711
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05056.x
• Keywords: Allobates femoralis, anurans, mating system, parentage analysis, reproductive success
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05056.x