Persistent use of sperm stored over winter in multiply-mated female garter snakes — ASN Events

Persistent use of sperm stored over winter in multiply-mated female garter snakes (#43)

Chris Friesen 1
  1. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

In some species, sperm is stored within the female reproductive tract for months to years, and yet remains viable to fertilize eggs and produce offspring. Female red-sided garter snakes store sperm for over seven months of winter dormancy. In previous work we demonstrated that these stored sperm account for an average of 25% paternity in a litter when the female mates with a male at spring emergence. Here we tested whether last-male sperm precedence was prevalent when a female mates with two males during the spring. On average, paternity was shared equally among the first (P1 proportion of paternity of the first male to mate) and second male (P2) to mate, and stored sperm (Pss), but the variance in paternity was high. Thus, last male sperm precedence may diminish when a female has more than two mates. Male size did not affect paternity,  but as the interval between matings increased, P1 increased at the expense of Pss.  Interestingly, as the second male’s copulation duration increased, P1 also increased at the expense of P2. This result suggests that female-influence over sperm and/or copulatory plug transfer during matings may also affect which male fathers her offspring. Finally, all females were spring “virgins”, consequently sperm stored from autumn matings remain competitive even when faced with two rivals in sperm competition and is likely the driver of the evolution of sperm longevity.