No direct or indirect benefits to cryptic female choice in house crickets (Acheta domesticus)

Cryptic female choice in crickets occurs through the prematureremoval of a male's spermatophore after copulation, which terminatessperm transfer. Although it is known that this behavior candirectly influence the paternity of offspring, its effects onfemale fitness have not been directly assessed. We tested thehypothesis that spermatophore removal by female house crickets(Acheta domesticus) confers fitness benefits on females, byrandomly assigning mates to females but permitting some femalesto freely remove spermatophores after mating (cryptic-choicetreatment) while forcing others to accept complete ejaculates(no-choice treatment). Although there was about a two-fold differencein the volume of ejaculate received by females of the two treatments,there were no significant differences in female longevity, reproductiveoutput, or offspring quality, as measured by offspring massand developmental time. Although differential spermatophoreremoval by females imposes strong sexual selection on males,the absence of a clear treatment effect suggests that femalesobtain no direct or indirect genetic benefits through theirpostcopulatory mating preferences.