Data from: Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis

Models of the evolution of sexual cannibalism argue that males may offset
the cost of cannibalism if components of the male body are directly
allocated to the eggs that they fertilize. We tested this idea in the
praying mantid Tenodera sinensis. Males and females were fed differently
radiolabelled crickets and allowed to mate. Half of the pairs progressed
to sexual cannibalism and we prevented cannibalism in the other half. We
assess the relative allocation of both male-derived somatic materials and
ejaculate materials into the eggs and soma of the female. Our results show
that male somatic investment contributes to production of offspring. The
eggs and reproductive tissues of cannibalistic females contained
significantly more male-derived amino acids than those of
non-cannibalistic females, and there was an increase in the number of eggs
produced subsequent to sexual cannibalism. Sexual cannibalism thus
increases male material investment in offspring. We also show that males
provide substantial investment via the ejaculate, with males passing about
25% of their radiolabelled amino acids to females via the ejaculate even
in the absence of cannibalism.