Mating dynamics of South African forest millipedes

This study focuses on the mating dynamics of South African forest millipedes Centrobolus (Diplopoda: Spirobolida: Pachybolidae). The main objectives were to investigate the two most common mechanisms of sexual selection, sperm competition and cryptic female choice. The approach was to (I) quantify sexual dimorphism and find the selection pressures operating on the sexes, (2) determine the functional significance ofmale and female genitalia,(3) understand why there should be a conflict of sexual interests in prolonged copulations, and (4) resolve the mechanisms of sperm competition and cryptic female choice by comparing male mating strategies and sperm precedence to female mating strategies andsperm usage. All hypotheses tested in this thesis are centered on whether there is a conflict of interests between the sexes.