Definition
Nuptial Gift: Materials beyond the obligatory gametes that are transferred from one sex to another during courtship or mating (Lewis and South 2012).
Introduction
In nature, the race to reproduce is incredibly competitive. Success means an organism passes on its genes; failure means that the organism’s specific genes are lost to the gene pool. One way in which an organism can increase its chance of reproduction is the presentation of a nuptial gift.Lewis and South (2012) define a nuptial gift as “...materials beyond the obligatory gametes that are transferred from one sex to another during courtship or mating.” Note that this definition does not specify the sex of the giver or the receiver. Whereas male to female gifts are the most common variety of nuptial gift, some species show evidence of female to male gifts (Arnqvist et al. 2003). Male Zeus bugs (Phoreticovelia disparata)feed on female glandular secretions while mating. There is also precedence for nuptial gifts in...
References
Arnqvist, G., Jones, T. M., & Elgar, M. A. (2003). Reversal of sex roles in nuptial feeding. Nature, 424, 387.
Bretman, A., Lawniczak, M. K. N., Boone, j., & Chapman, T. (2009). A mating plug protein reduces early female remating in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Insect Physiology, 56, 107–113.
Eggert, A. K., & Sakaluk, S. K. (1994). Sexual cannibalism and its relation to male mating success in sagebrush crickets, Cyphoderris strepitans (Haglidae: Orthoptera). Animal Behaviour, 47, 1171–1177.
Ghislandi, P. G., Albo, M. J., Tuni, C., & Bilde, T. (2014). Evolution of deceit by worthless donations in a nuptial gift-giving spider. Current Zoology, 60, 43–51.
Gwyne, D. (2008). Sexual conflict over Nuptial Gifts in insects. Annual Review of Entomology, 53, 83–101.
Hoving, H. J. T., & Laptikhovsky, V. (2007). Getting under the skin: Autonomous implantation of squid spermatophore. Biological Bulletin, 212, 177–179.
Koene, J. M., Pfortner, T., & Michiels, N. K. (2005). Piercing the partner’s skin influences sperm uptake in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 59, 243–249.
Lewis, S., & South, A. (2012). The evolution of animal nuptial gifts. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 44, 53–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394288-3.00002-2.
Schulz, S., Estrada, C., Yildizhan, S., Boppré, M., & Gilbert, L. E. (2008). An antiaphrodisiac in Heliconius melpomene butterflies. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 34, 82–93.
Silver, R., Andrews, H., & Ball, G. F. (1985). Parental care in an ecological perspective: A quantitative analysis of avian subfamilies. American Zoologist, 25, 823–840.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Pappas, J. (2019). Nuptial Gift. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_323-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_323-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences