Mate choice copying and mate quality bias: different processes, different species

Mate choice copying is the most studied type of nonindependent mate choice, in which the probability of a male being chosen by a female increases if he has previously been chosen by other females and decreases if he has been rejected. Recent studies suggest that what can sometimes influence females is not so much a male’s success at securing mates but the quality of the females that choose him. Here, we show that, though hitherto described as mate choice copying, this type of nonindependent mate choice is characterized by distinct evolutionary dynamics and ecological requirements, will have usually evolved in different species, and must therefore be urgently distinguished from mate choice copying. The term mate quality bias is suggested as an appropriate description of this phenomenon. Key words: evolutionary psychology, mate choice, mating skew, serial monogamy. [Behav Ecol]