Male-female chemical interactions in a facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect

Facultative parthenogenesis is a form of reproduction in which females can either lay unfertilised eggs that typically develop into female offspring only, or mate and lay fertilised eggs that develop into male and female offspring. Facultative parthenogens often occur in mixed-sex populations where reproduction is mostly sexual, and all-female populations where reproduction is asexual. How all-female populations avoid invasion by males remains unknown. Here, we investigated the role of volatile and non-volatile (cuticular hydrocarbons, CHCs) pheromones in the persistence of all-female populations in the facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect, Megacrania batesii. We found that M. batesii exhibits slight sexual dimorphism in antenna morphology, and behavioural assays provided little evidence that males could locate females solely by volatile pheromones. However, CHC profiles differed substantially between different types of females. Analysis of CHC structure and abundance indicated a ..., Animal maintenance
Individuals for all experiments were offspring derived from hatchlings or eggs collected from mixed-sex and all-female populations in northern Queensland between 2019 and 2022. All males and females from mixed-sex populations were collected from populations of the northern genotype, whilst females from all-female populations were collected from populations of the southern genotype. Hatchlings were first group-reared with up to four siblings on a live Pandanus tectorius host plant, then housed separately in a cylindrical plastic container (height = 39.5 cm, radius = 10 cm) covered with a mesh lid. The insects were all kept at approximately 27°C, with humidity of around 40%, and they were sprayed with reverse-osmosis water daily. Individuals housed without live plants were fed cut Pandanus leaves, which were replaced three times a week. All individuals used in experiments were reproductively mature adults. The paternity of individuals were manipulated by the control of ..., , # Data from: Male-female chemical interactions in a facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgdr](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sf7m0cgdr)

There are 10 .csv files in total, including \"antenna_length.csv\", \"antennae_sensilla.csv\", \"pheromone_imp_pat.csv\", \"pheromone_n_s.csv\", \"pheromone_ip_wide_zero.csv\", \"pheromone_ns_wide_zero.csv\", \"chcs_pca.csv\", \"chc_pca_cor.csv \"chc_clr_pca.csv\", and \"clr_pca_score.csv\".

\"antenna_length.csv\" is the data for investigating the degree of sexual dimorphism in antenna length static allometry.

\"antennae_sensilla.csv\" is the data for investigating the degree of sexual dimorphism in antenna sensilla density.

\"pheromone_imp_pat.csv\" is the data for comparing male responses in paternate-impaternate trials of the volatile pheromone behavioural experiment, and the effect of female age on male response.

\"pheromone_n_s.csv\" is the data for comparing male responses in North-South trials of the volatile pheromone behavi...