Genetic variation in male mate choice for large females in Drosophila melanogaster

Males in many species show courtship and mating preferences for certain females over others when given the choice. One of the most common targets of male mate choice in insects is female body size, with males preferring to court and mate with larger, higher-fecundity females and investing more resources in matings with those females. Although this preference is well-documented at the species level, less is known about how this preference varies within species and whether there is standing genetic variation for male mate choice within populations. We used hemiclonal analysis in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to test for heritable genetic variation in pre- and post-copulatory components of male mate choice for large females. We found additive genetic variation for both forms of male choice: males from different hemiclone lines varied in the strength of their courtship preferences for large females and the degree to which they extended matings with large females. Although males fr..., , , # Data from: Genetic variation in male mate choice for large females in *Drosophila melanogaster*

## Description of the data and file structure

**MMCHC_PropL.csv**
*Proportion of courtship directed toward the large female. Data are displayed in Figure 1.*
“Block” = the experimental block
“Observer” = the observer
\"Clone\" = the specific hemiclone line
“Vial” = the vial label for that male during that block
“TotalMinCourt” = the total number of minutes the male spent courting. Empty cells indicate that the male did not court during the experiment (or that courtship data was missed).
“PreferenceIndex” = the preference index (PI) calculated for this male (this metric is not used in the current study but is how male mate choice has been measured previously in this D. mel population). Empty cells indicate that the male did not court during the experiment (or that courtship data was missed).
\"NewPropL\" = the proportion of courtship units directed to the large female by the male (\"UnitsCourtL...