Sexual Selection and Nuptial Feeding Behavior in Bittacus apicalis (Insecta: Mecoptera)

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Abstract
Field and laboratory studies of B. apicalis reveal the probable occurrence and importance of intersexual selection (female choice) in these insects. Females select males on the basis of the arthropod prey which the males feed to them in the prelude to copulation, and females maximize their reproductive success, as measured by increased fecundity, by choosing males with palatable prey items 19 mm2 or larger. Female preference for increased male nutritional investment was apparently the selective context for the evolution of nuptial feeding and some of the behavior surrounding nuptial feeding in B. apicalis.