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Mate recognition systems in a species flock of Mexican pupfish
Author(s) -
Strecker U.,
KodricBrown A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1999.00096.x
Subject(s) - biology , interspecific competition , reproductive isolation , sensory cue , evolutionary biology , zoology , kin recognition , ecology , population , demography , neuroscience , sociology
The pupfishes of Lake Chichancanab (Mexico) provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution of premating reproductive barriers. This group of endemic species is of recent origin and the lineages differ in morphological traits indicating trophic specialization, but show very little genetic change. We studied the function of visual and chemical cues in the mate recognition system of three morphospecies, Cyprinodon beltrani , C. labiosus and C. maya . Only in C. maya , which is genetically the most distinct member of the group, do females show the ability to identify males of their own type, both visually and chemically. C. labiosus females discriminated between their own and C. beltrani males based on chemical but not visual cues. C. beltrani , which is morphologically the least differentiated member of the group, showed no interspecific mate recognition. Females responded more strongly to the visual and chemical cues of their own males than to their own females, but they did not discriminate between their own males and those of the other two morphospecies based upon either type of cue. These results suggest that different levels of behavioural isolation have been established: most isolated is C. maya , and the least is C. beltrani . C. labiosus has an intermediate position. The results also suggest that species recognition cues based on different sensory modalities do not necessarily evolve together, and may evolve at different rates.