Further observations relating sex size ratios to mating success in calanoid copepods

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Abstract
Mating experiments using 153 pairs of Diaptomus leptopus Forbes were video-taped in the laboratory. The following were measured and scored: attempted capture of the female by the male, time to successful capture and mounting, duration of copulation, spermatophore placement, time to clutch extrusion, prosome lengths of all individuals and sex size ratios (female:male lengths) of all pairs. Mating success was not a function of sex size ratio for D.leptopus at ratios commonly observed in nature in the populations tested. However, this lack of relationship may not be true of all populations. Photographic analysis of D.leptopus as well as D.birgei Marsh showed that males always held onto female genital segments in the vicinity of the spines with their right fifth legs. Pearson correlations were calculated comparing prosome lengths to a variety of genital parts. The strongest relationships were found with female genital segment width at the level of the spines for both species, and male right fifth leg claw length for D.birgei. These data support the hypothesis that the relationship between sex size ratio and mating success may be species specific.

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