Sperm delivery and egg production of the simultaneously hermaphroditic land snail Arianta arbustorum exposed to an increased sperm competition risk

Sperm competition theory predicts that males exposed to an increased risk of sperm competition should maximize fertilization prospects by inseminating more sperm per ejaculate. We designed a laboratory experiment to examine the effect of increased sperm competition risk on male and female reproductive traits in individuals of the simultaneously hermaphroditic land snail Arianta arbustorum. Courtship behaviour, spermatophore size and number of sperm delivered were not influenced by a higher sperm competition risk. However, snails constantly exposed to mucous trails of conspecifics deposited more egg batches than snails denied any cues from conspecific mucous trails. On the individual level, the number of sperm delivered was positively correlated with the number of eggs produced. This finding contradicts the basic prediction of sex allocation theory that there is a trade-off between resources allocated to male and female function in simultaneous hermaphrodites. Most probably this trade-off may only occur if resources are limited.