Polyandry, cloaca-pecking and sperm competition in dunnocks

@article{Davies1983PolyandryCA,
  title={Polyandry, cloaca-pecking and sperm competition in dunnocks},
  author={Nicholas B. Davies},
  journal={Nature},
  year={1983},
  volume={302},
  pages={334-336}
}

• Nicholas B. Davies
• Published 1983 in Nature
• DOI:10.1038/302334a0

A variety of behaviours adopted by males before and after copulation serve to increase paternity. The most spectacular examples occur in insects where males increase their own chances of fertilizing the female's eggs by mate guarding, mating plugs and even removal of other males' sperm1,2. Here, sperm competition is described for a small European passerine bird, the dunnock (Prunella modularis), where females are often mated simultaneously to two males3,4 and where there is an elaborate pre… CONTINUE READING

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