Sexual selection on a female copulatory device in an insect with nuptial gifts

Male genitalia are rapidly evolving structures, often driven by sexual selection to increase fertilization success. Although sexual selection on females can be strong in systems where males provide offspring care or feed their mates, sometimes resulting in the evolution of female ornamentation, there are no actual estimates of direct sexual selection on female genitalia. In a New Zealand ground weta, Hemiandrus pallitarsis (Orthoptera: Ensifera, Anostostomatidae), females possess a genitalic device (the accessory organ) that is necessary for successful copulation and the acquisition of glandular food-gifts from males. These nutritious gifts are known to result in sexual competition among females in other ensiferan species. In ground weta, the gifts are probably important in avoiding starvation during a months-long period when caring for (their lifetime production of) eggs and offspring. Here, we test the hypothesis that the accessory organ is a sexually selected device in H. pallitarsis..., , Excel, R studio, ## Genetic data.xlsx

Includes multiple sheets containing all genetic data:

**-Sheet \"population genotypes\"** contains all genotypes from our two collection sites, used to characterize loci (Genepop 4.7; results included in ESM 1) and to inform parentage analyses (Software GERUD).

**-Sheets \"KA\", \"KB\", \"PA\", \"PB\", \"PC\", \"PD\", \"PE\", \"PF\", \"K2A\", \"K2D\", \"K2E\", \"K2G\", \"K2J\", \"P2B\", \"P2C\", \"P2E\", and \"P2G\"** each represent a different weta family and contain Genotypic data for offspring, their mother, and one potential father, the \"last male\". These data were used to estimate female mating success (using GERUD to detect discrete sires) for Bateman gradients and Jones index.

In the above sheets, data are provided per specimen in rows, with separate columns for microsatellite loci, each containing 2 alleles. Alleles are shown as 3-digit numbers which represent the lengths (number of base pairs) of the DNA fragments. Samples beginning with \"K\" or \"W\" were collected from Kiriwhakapapa and sa...