¹Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Correspondence: Dr DM Shuker, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK. E-mail: david.shuker@ed.ac.uk

Received 13 June 2006; Revised 24 July 2006; Accepted 16 August 2006; Published online 20 September 2006.

Abstract

Understanding the evolution of female multiple mating (polyandry) is crucial for understanding sexual selection and sexual conflict. Despite this interest, little is known about its genetic basis or whether genetics influences the evolutionary origin or maintenance of polyandry. Here, we explore the quantitative genetic basis of polyandry in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis, a species in which female re-mating has been observed to evolve in the laboratory. We performed a quantitative genetic experiment on a recently collected population of wasps. We found low heritabilities of female polyandry (re-mating frequency after 18 h), low heritability of courtship duration and a slightly higher heritability of copulation duration. However, the coefficients of additive genetic variance for these traits were all reasonably large (CV_A>7.0). We also found considerable dam effects for all traits after controlling for common environment, suggesting either dominance or maternal effects. Our work adds to the evidence that nonadditive genetic effects may influence the evolution of mating behaviour in Nasonia vitripennis, and the evolution of polyandry more generally.