Data from: Competition decreases with relatedness and lek size in mole crickets: a role for kin selection?

Twenty years ago, Kokko & Lindstrom (1996) introduced the
hypothesis that kin selection may drive the evolution of leks, shifting
the lek-paradigm away from a competitive framework and spurring research
on the relatedness of males on leks. However, support for Kokko &
Lindstrom’s kin selection hypothesis has been sparse; most studies have
shown related males to occur on leks no more than expected by chance.
Additionally, evidence supporting the proposed mechanism is mixed; by
joining a lek males do not always increase the female visitation rate on a
per-capita basis. The prairie mole cricket Gryllotalpa major is a lekking
cricket in which male relatives advertise in close proximity. We reject
the Kokko-Lindstrom hypothesis for this species because G. major females
do not preferentially visit larger leks. Interestingly, more females
visited smaller leks, where the presence of larger, more highly related
males suggest reduced levels of local competition. Although the mechanism
continues to be explored, these results provide an alternative inclusive
fitness scenario to consider for lekking species – the existence of kin
benefits between related neighbors rather than spread across the lek as a
whole.