Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on August 19, 2007
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm070
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Experience leads to preference: experienced females prefer brush-legged males in a population of syntopic wolf spiders
a School of Biological Sciences, 348 Manter Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA b AgResearch, Lincoln Research Centre, Private Bag 4749, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Address correspondence to E.A. Hebets. E-mail: ehebets2{at}unl.edu.
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Abstract |
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Sexual selection has long been recognized as a potential contributor to the divergence in reproductive characters that ultimately leads to speciation. Schizocosa ocreata and Schizocosa rovneri wolf spiders embody a classic example of species divergence resulting from such sexual selection, as they are reproductively isolated by courtship behavior alone. Here, we characterize a newly discovered population of wolf spiders in which brush-legged males (sensu S. ocreata) and non-ornamented males (sensu S. rovneri) are found syntopically. Mitochondrial sequence data (cytochrome oxidase subunit 1) indicate that the 2 male forms are not reciprocally monophyletic. We exposed subadult females from this mixed population to courtship advances from either brush-legged or non-ornamented males. Experienced females mated significantly more with brush-legged males, whereas inexperienced females showed no mating distinction. In essence, we demonstrate that females from this population will differentially choose between males of 2 distinct forms based on prior experience. Specifically, experience leads to a preference for brush-legged males. We also show that brush-legged males are more sexually aggressive than non-ornamented males. This study highlights the importance of prior experience on subsequent mate choice and has potential implications regarding the extent to which experience can influence polymorphism maintenance and/or species divergence and the evolution of secondary sexual traits.
Key words: mate choice, plasticity, polymorphism, sexual aggression, speciation, subadult experience.
Received 21 December 2006; revised 9 July 2007; accepted 10 July 2007.
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