RANDOM MATING BY SIZE IN THE SIMULTANEOUSLY HERMAPHRODITIC LAND SNAIL ARIANTA-ARBUSTORUM - EXPERIMENTS AND AN EXPLANATION

It has been proposed that size-assortative mating should occur in simultaneous hermaphrodites with reciprocal fertilization and size-related fecundity because all individuals invest substantially in mating. Mating patterns were recorded in two species of simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails. In a natural population of Helix pomatia, snails showed a slight (but non-significant) tendency towards sizeassortative mating, whereas mating in a population of Arianta arbustorum was random with respect to size. Laboratory experiments were conducted to test (1) whether individuals of A. arbustorum discriminate between mating partners of different size, and (2) whether a large shell might be of advantage during courtship to increase mating success. In mate-choice tests with individuals of different shell size, pairs formed randomly with respect to size. Courtship was neither hindered nor prolonged in pairs with large size differences. In the second experiment, a large snail was placed close to two courting conspecifics (both smaller). The larger snail interfered with the courting snails, but in general did not displace one of them. Courtship progressed to copulation only if one of the three snails ceased to court; this was independent of the size of that individual. Thus, a large shell did not increase mating success. It is suggested that time-constraints of locomotory activity and high costs of searching for a mate can explain the prevalence of random mating patterns in simultaneously hermaphroditic land snails. © 1992 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.