Constrained sex allocation after mating in a haplodiploid thrips species depends on maternal condition

Abstract

In females of haplodiploid animals, female production requires fertilization, whereas male production does not. Therefore, haplodiploid species can display extraordinary sex ratios. Constrained sex allocation occurs when a female cannot produce daughters. This can be due to virginity but may also occur after mating due to insemination failure, selfish genetic elements or physiological constraints. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying constrained sex allocation in Pezothrips kellyanus. In this species some mated females produce highly female‐biased broods, yet, for unknown reasons, others produce extremely male‐biased broods. Using crossing experiments controlled for maternally inherited endosymbionts we confirmed that constrained females were successfully inseminated. Furthermore, male‐biased offspring production was not paternally inherited, ruling out paternal sex ratio elements previously identified as sex ratio distorters in some parasitoid wasps. Next, we excluded mating time and paternal fitness effects (male size) on sex allocation. However, we found that constrained sex allocation only occurred in small females producing smaller eggs than large females producing larger eggs and female‐biased broods. Consequently, the bimodal sex allocation pattern correlates with maternal condition, and may have arisen (adaptively or non‐adaptively) in association with an egg size‐mediated fertilization mechanism recently detected in some haplodiploids, with egg size positively affecting fertilization success.