The precopulatory function of male genital spines in Drosophila ananassae [Doleschall] (Diptera: Drosophilidae) revealed by laser surgery

That male genital morphology evolves via postcopulatory sexual selection is a widely held view. In contrast, the pre-copulatory sexual selection hypothesis for genital evolution has received less attention. Here, we test the hypothesis that male genital spines of Drosophila ananassae promote competitive male copulation success. Using laser surgery to manipulate trait size, we demonstrate that incremental reductions of spine length progressively reduce male copulation success: males without spines failed entirely to copulate because of an inability to couple the genitalia together, whereas males with halfway ablated and blunted spines suffered reductions in copulation success of 87% and 13%, respectively. The decrease in copulation success resulting from spine length reduction was markedly stronger in sexually competitive environments than in non-competitive environments, and females expressed resistance behaviors similarly toward competing male treatments, demonstrating directly the rol...