Mustached males in a tropical poeciliid fish: emerging female preference selects for a novel male trait

One possible mechanism for the (co-)evolution of seemingly novel male traits and female preferences for them is that males exploit pre-existing female biases, and livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae) have been at the forefront of this research for almost two decades. Here, using 13 poeciliid species fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 2011-07, Vol.65 (7), p.1437-1445
Main Authors: McCoy, Ellen, Syska, Norbert, Plath, Martin, Schlupp, Ingo, Riesch, Rüdiger
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal communication
Animal Ecology
Animal populations
Animal reproduction
Behavioral Sciences
Biological taxonomies
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Evolution
Female animals
Fish
Life Sciences
Male animals
Males
Mating behavior
Mustaches
Original Paper
Personality traits
Phenotypic traits
Poecilia sphenops
Poeciliidae
Sexual selection
Zoology
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Summary:One possible mechanism for the (co-)evolution of seemingly novel male traits and female preferences for them is that males exploit pre-existing female biases, and livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae) have been at the forefront of this research for almost two decades. Here, using 13 poeciliid species from four different genera, we tested whether mustache-like rostral filaments found in males of some Mexican molly (Poecilia sphenops) populations could have evolved due to exploitation of a pre-existing female bias. While Mexican mollies were the only species with a significant female association preference for mustached males, we also did not find any species exhibiting significant aversion for mustached males; rather, variance in female preference scores was large throughout. For example, more than 25% of females spent twice as much time with the mustached male compared to the non-mustached male in most species, but even 31% of Mexican molly females spent more time near the non-mustached male. Hence, a comparison of the strength of preference was inconclusive. We discuss the possibility that the female preference of P. sphenops for mustached males could be due to a female pre-existing bias (sensu lato), even if population means were not significant for species other than P. sphenops. This highlights the importance of distinguishing between population means and individual preferences when interpreting mate choice, and thus, adds depth to the concept of mating preferences as a motor for evolutionary change.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/s00265-011-1154-x