Data from: Female mate fidelity in a lek mating system and its implications for the evolution of cooperative lekking behavior

The extent and importance of female mate fidelity in polygynous mating systems are poorly known. Fidelity may contribute to high variance in male reproductive success when it favors attractive mates or may stabilize social interactions if females are faithful to mating sites rather than males. Using 12 years of data on genetic mate choice in the cooperatively lekking lance-tailed manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata), I investigated the frequency of fidelity within and between years, whether females were faithful to individual males or to mating sites across years, and whether fidelity favored attractive males. Mate fidelity occurred in 41.7% of 120 between-year comparisons and was observed for 41.1% of 73 individual females that had the opportunity to mate faithfully. Females were not more likely to mate at prior mating sites when previous mates were replaced. Faithful females mated with the same male in up to four consecutive years but were not disproportionately faithful to attractive partners. Mating history influences current mate choice, and fidelity in this lekking system apparently represents active mate choice by females but little consensus in mate choices among faithful females. This study underscores the prevalence of mate fidelity in polygynous mating systems and emphasizes the need to consider the larger context of lifetime reproductive behavior when interpreting patterns of female choice.