Consistent male-male paternity differences across female genotypes

Abstract

In a recent paper, we demonstrated that male– female genetic relatedness determines male probability of paternity in experimental sperm competition in the Peron’s tree frog (Litoria peronii), with a more closely related male outcompeting his rival. Here, we test the hypothesis that a male–male difference in siring success with one female significantly predicts the corresponding difference in siring success with another female. With male sperm concentration held constant, and the proportion of viable sperm controlled statistically, the male–male difference in siring success with one female strongly predicted the corresponding difference in siring success with another female, and alone explained more than 62 per cent of the variance in male–male siring differences. This study demonstrates that male siring success is primarily dictated by among-male differences in innate siring success with less influence of male– female relatedness.