Male two-spotted spider mites guard premature females and may thereby conditionally adopt one of two mating strategies, fighter and sneaker. Fighters defend the guarded female against any rival, fight against guarding fighters but do not fight against guarding sneakers; sneakers do not fight, do not challenge guarding males and are not challenged by fighter rivals during guarding. Here, we explore the effects of (i) maternal mating status, (ii) paternal tactics, and (iii) parental relatedness on ARTs and epigenetic profiles of sons.

Institutions: University of Vienna, University of Tsukuba, Nanjing Agricultural University
Researcher: Peter Schausberger, Yukie Sato, Xiao-Yue Hong
Funding: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS; Invitation Fellowship to PS)