Chemical mate choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster

Mate choice is a critical decision especially for females that requires time and energy to assess potential partners’ genetic quality. Consequently, in many species, females have evolved the ability to utilize social information by copying the mate choices of others, usually based on visual cues. However, many species, especially invertebrates, primarily rely on chemical not visual cues. Using chemical rather than visual cues provides several advantages such as not requiring active observation of copulations. Despite that, empirical evidence for the existence of chemical mate choice copying is scarce. Using Drosophila melanogaster, we provide the first demonstration of chemical mate choice copying. Females exposed to a recently mated select the same male genotype as the demonstrator female mated with at a higher frequency than expected by chance. Chemical mate choice copying requires sensing both male and female cues, which might indicate that other females have chosen that male genotyp..., , # Chemical mate choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.69p8cz9dx](10.5061/dryad.69p8cz9dx)

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README for the manuscript \"Chemical mate choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster\"

Bloo Mitchell, Alexandria Abbott, Ashanti Brown, Lacy N Skinner, Elmira Umarova, Philip Kohlmeier

Summary:

Mate choice copying is a widespread social learning behavior where individuals base their mate selection on the choices of others. In this study, we provide the first empirical evidence of chemical mate choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster. We demonstrate that observer females, when exposed to recently mated females, preferentially select males of the same genotype as the demonstrator’s mate. Our results suggest that chemical cues left on mated females serve as social information, influencing female mate preferences. This finding broadens our understanding of mate choice mechanisms and highlights the importance of chemical ...,