Sex starved: do resource-limited males ensure fertilization success at the expense of precopulatory mating success?

Theory predicts trade-offs between investment in various life history traits, and it is also now generally accepted that reproduction is costly for males. Males must therefore optimize resource allocation across several episodes of reproduction, and this includes investment in both pre- and postcopulatory fitness components. We investigated this in the sperm-polymorphic Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Resource-limited males were smaller, and had decreased precopulatory mating success, measured as lifetime number of matings. However, they transferred similar numbers of fertile sperm as males reared under high-quality larval conditions, and more nonfertile sperm. By mating less frequently, resource-limited males may allocate sufficient resources to the matings they achieve to ensure fertilization success under sperm competition.