Data from: Sexual attractiveness and reproductive performance in aging females of a coccoid insect

Female age strongly influences reproductive success in various animals. Males are therefore expected to show preferential responses to sexual signals released from females of ages suitable for reproduction. Here, however, we report an unexpected and contradictory effect of aging on sexual attractiveness and reproductive performance in a coccoid insect: the pheromone-based attractiveness of females increased with aging, though their reproductive performance was in rapid decline. Surprisingly, senescent females continued releasing relatively high amounts of pheromone and maintained their sexual attractiveness, even at ages when they had almost completely lost fertility, with reduced densities of endosymbionts to support their physiology. Our dataset suggests a potential sexual conflict within a pheromone communication system, where females benefit at males’ expense through deceptive signals of fertility.在多种动物类群中，雌性年龄对繁殖成功率具有显著影响。据此，雄性理论上应优先对适宜繁殖年龄雌性释放的性信号做出响应。然而本研究在一种蚧类昆虫（coccoid insect）中，报道了衰老对性吸引力与繁殖性能的反常且矛盾的效应：尽管雌性的繁殖性能快速衰退，但其基于信息素（pheromone）的性吸引力却随衰老不断提升。令人意外的是，即便在几乎完全丧失生育能力的年龄阶段，衰老雌性仍持续释放相对高水平的信息素并维持其性吸引力，此时其体内用于支撑生理机能的内共生菌（endosymbionts）密度已出现降低。本数据集表明，信息素通信系统中或存在潜在性冲突：雌性可通过具有欺骗性的生育信号，以牺牲雄性利益为代价获取自身收益。