Abstract
Pseudo-arrhenotoky implies that males develop from fertilized eggs but transmit only the maternal genome. They become, effectively, haploid after elimination of the paternal chromosome set. This is in contrast to arrheno-toky where males are also haploid but arise from unfertilized eggs. It is shown that females are the pseudo-arrhenotokous phytoseiid mite, Typhlodromus occidentalis Nesbitt, produce highly underdispersed non-binomial sex ratios. In addition, they adjust their sex ratio to the density of conspecific females, broadly in agreement with the theory of Local Mate Competition. It is concluded that phytoseiid females not only have the ability to regulate their sex ratio but that they can also determine the sex of each individual egg with high precision. The control seems as flexible as in arrhenotokous arthropods, suggesting that pseudo-arrhenotoky is not at a disadvantage compared to arrhenotoky with respect to maternal control of the sex of the offspring. Precise sex ratios could confer on phytoseiids a fitness advantage compared to a binomial sex ratio because of their often subdivided population structure, characterized by mating in small groups. However, the existence of precision does not need to depend solely on this advantage. It could be an integral property of the mechanism of sex-ratio control.
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Nagelkerke, C.J., Sabelis, M.W. (1991). Precise sex-ratio control in the pseudo-arrhenotokous phytoseiid mite Typhlodromus occidentalis Nesbitt . In: The Acari. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3102-5_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3102-5_12
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