RESOURCE-ALLOCATION AND MATING SYSTEMS IN BUTTERFLIES

A cross-taxonomic comparison of resources allocated to reproductive re serves at adult eclosion reveals that females belonging to polyandrous species receive more ejaculate material and allocate proportionally l ess of their total reserves to potential reproduction compared to fema les belonging to monandrous species. These results suggest that adult females of polyandrous species have a higher expected nutrient income and are consistent with the idea that females can benefit from male nu trient donations transferred during mating. Males show the opposite pa ttern: males of polyandrous species allocate proportionally more to re production. This is expected since males in polyandrous species have b oth proportionally heavier ejaculates and have a higher ejaculative pr oduction capacity than do males in monandrous species. Interestingly, adults of the genus Heliconius which can obtain nutrients crucial to r eproduction by pollen feeding do not seem to follow these patterns as strong as only nectar-feeding butterflies. Instead, the association be tween degree of polyandry and resources allocated to reproduction is r elaxed.