Cotton Samuel, Rogers David W, Small Jennifer, Pomiankowski Andrew, Fowler Kevin
The Galton Laboratory, Department of Biology, University College London, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2006 May 22;273(1591):1287-92. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3449.
There is currently much interest in mate preferences for sexual ornaments. However, few studies have focused on individual variation in mate preference despite its importance for the rate and direction of sexual selection. Females of the sexually dimorphic stalk-eyed fly, Diasemopsis meigenii, exhibit an unambiguous rejection response towards unattractive males bearing small ornaments. We investigated individual mate preferences using repeated sequential sampling of female rejection or acceptance responses to a wide range of male ornament phenotypes. We found significant variation in the strength of individual preference. In addition, preference was positively associated with female eyespan, a condition-dependent trait putatively linked to visual acuity.
目前，人们对性装饰的配偶偏好颇感兴趣。然而，尽管个体配偶偏好在性选择的速率和方向方面具有重要意义，但很少有研究关注这方面的个体差异。两性异形的 stalk-eyed 蝇（Diasemopsis meigenii）的雌性对带有小装饰的缺乏吸引力的雄性表现出明确的拒绝反应。我们通过对雌性对广泛的雄性装饰表型的拒绝或接受反应进行重复的顺序抽样，来研究个体的配偶偏好。我们发现个体偏好强度存在显著差异。此外，偏好与雌性的眼距呈正相关，眼距是一种与视力可能相关的依赖于条件的性状。
