Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (9)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Witte, K.
Right arrow Articles by Ueding, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Witte, K.
Right arrow Articles by Ueding, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Behavioral Ecology Vol. 14 No. 3: 389-395
© 2003 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Sailfin molly females (Poecilia latipinna) copy the rejection of a male

Klaudia Witte and Kirsten Ueding

Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensforschung, Universität Bielefeld, Postfach 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany

Address correspondence to K. Witte. E-mail: klaudia.witte{at}biologie. uni-bielefeld.de.

When females choose among males they often accept one male as a potential partner and reject others as nonacceptable mates. The rejection of "wrong" males and the acceptance of "right" males are equally important processes in mate choice. Sailfin molly females have been shown to copy the mate choice of other females when accepting a male. The present study used video playbacks to test whether or not sailfin molly females copy the rejection of a male. Test females spent significantly less time with previously attractive males after having observed their rejection by other females. Eight of 15 females even reversed their choice and preferred the male they had previously found unattractive. In control experiments, we showed that neither inconsistency in female mate choice nor escape behavior of a female in a nonsexual context could explain these results. This is the first study that shows that sailfin molly females copy the rejection of a male.

Key words: male rejection, mate-choice copying, sailfin molly, sexual selection, video playback.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
D. Goulet and T. L. Goulet
Nonindependent mating in a coral reef damselfish: evidence of mate choice copying in the wild
Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2006; 17(6): 998 - 1003.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.