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Male mating preferences pre‐date the origin of a female trait polymorphism in an incipient species complex of Lake Victoria cichlids
Author(s) -
PIEROTTI M. E. R.,
SEEHAUSEN O.
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01206.x
Subject(s) - biology , sympatric speciation , cichlid , sexual selection , sympatry , mate choice , trait , disruptive selection , evolutionary biology , mating preferences , population , mating , ecological speciation , zoology , reproductive isolation , ecology , natural selection , genetics , genetic variation , demography , gene flow , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , sociology , computer science , programming language , gene
Disruptive sexual selection on colour patterns has been suggested as a major cause of diversification in the cichlid species flock of Lake Victoria. In Neochromis omnicaeruleus , a colour and sex determination polymorphism is associated with a polymorphism in male and female mating preferences. Theoretical work on this incipient species complex found conditions for rapid sympatric speciation by selection on sex determination and sexual selection on male and female colour patterns, under restrictive assumptions. Here we test the biological plausibility of a key assumption of such models, namely, the existence of a male preference against a novel female colour morph before its appearance in the population. We show that most males in a population that lacks the colour polymorphism exhibit a strong mating preference against the novel female colour morph and that reinforcement is not a likely explanation for the origin of such male preferences. Our results show that a specific condition required for the combined action of selection on sex determination and sexual selection to drive sympatric speciation is biologically justified. Finally, we suggest that Lake Victoria cichlids might share an ancestral female recognition scheme, predisposing colour monomorphic populations/species to similar evolutionary pathways leading to divergence of colour morphs in sympatry.