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Mating preferences, sexual selection and patterns of cladogenesis in ray‐finned fishes
Author(s) -
MANK J. E.
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.1420-9101.2006.01251.x
Subject(s) - biology , cladogenesis , sexual selection , evolutionary biology , clade , mate choice , reproductive isolation , sexual conflict , mating , zoology , phylogenetics , genetics , population , gene , demography , sociology
Evolutionary theory predicts that sexual selection may increase taxonomic diversity when emergent mating preferences result in reproductive isolation and therefore speciation. This theory has been invoked to explain patterns of diversity in ray‐finned fishes (most notably in the cichlids), but the theory has not been tested comparatively in fish. Additionally, several other unrelated factors have been identified as promoters of cladogenesis, so it is unclear how important sexual selection might be in diversification. Using sister‐clade analysis, I tested the relationship between the presence of sexually selected traits and taxonomic diversification in actinopterygiian fishes, a large clade that shows substantial diversity in mating preferences and related sexually selected traits. In all identified sister‐families that differed with regard to the proportion of species manifesting sexually selected traits, sexual selection was correlated with increased diversification, and this association was significant across all sister clades ( P = 0.02). This suggests that sexual selection, when present, is a substantial driver of diversification in the ray‐finned fishes, and lends further empirical support to the theoretical link between mating preferences and accelerated cladogenesis.