Mustached Males in a Tropical Poeciliid Fish: Emerging Female Preference Selects for a Novel Male Trait
IAAAM 2012
Ellen McCoy1; Norbert Syska1,2; Martin Plath3; Ingo Schlupp1; Rüdiger Riesch1,4
1Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA; 2Unit of Evolutionary Biology & Systematic Zoology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; 3Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt/M., Germany; 4Department of Biology & W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

Abstract

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.

Acknowledgements

We thank R. B. Langerhans for his introduction to Mesquite and helpful discussions, as well as D. McLennon and an anonymous reviewer for reviews that greatly helped to improve this manuscript. The Mexican Government and the Municipal of Tacotalpa kindly issued permits to collect fish. Financial support came from NSF (DEB-0743406; to I. S.), and DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft;PL 470/1-2; to M.P.).

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Speaker Information
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Ellen McCoy
Department of Zoology
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK, USA


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