Mating behaviour and its relationship with morphological features in the millipede Pachyiulus hungaricus (Karsch, 1881) (Myriapoda, Diplopoda, Julida)

Abstract

Although millipedes (Diplopoda) represent one of the most diverse classes of arthropods, data concerning details of theirmating behaviour are very scarce. In this work, we explored mating behaviour of the European millipedePachyiulus hungaricusunderlaboratory conditions, and its relationship with the size and shape of certain morphological traits. We conducted 3 types of behaviouraltests: a mating arena test, a female choice test, and a male choice test. Premating behaviour wassequencedin 5 behavioural stepsand, together with the duration of copulation, scored in all mating assays. Males were the more active sex in searching for mates, whilefemales were the choosier sex. Furthermore, in the choice tests, previous mating partners had significantly more copulations than newones, thus raising questions about postcopulatory sexual selection in this species. On the other hand, our results indicate that size and/orshape of the tested morphological traits, except for the shape of the male walking legs, were not subject to precopulatory sexual selection.Other sensory domains known to influence courtship behaviour need to be investigated in this regard inP. hungaricus.