Sexual signal loss, pleiotropy, and maintenance of a male reproductive polymorphism in crickets

Pleiotropy between male signals and female preferences can facilitate evolution of sexual communication by maintaining coordination between the sexes. Alternatively, it can favor variation in the mating system, such as a reproductive polymorphism. It is unknown how common either of these scenarios are in nature. In Pacific field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) on Kauai, Hawaii, a mutation (flatwing) that segregates as a single locus is responsible for the rapid loss of song production in males. We used outbred cricket colonies fixed for male wing morph to investigate whether homozygous flatwing and normal-wing (wild-type) females differ in responsiveness to male calling song and propensity to mate when paired with either a flatwing or normal-wing male in the presence or absence of courtship song. Flatwing females were less likely to mount a male than normal-wing females. Females of both genotypes showed a preference for normal-wing males and were more likely to mate in the presence of...雄性信号与雌性偏好间的多效性（Pleiotropy）可通过维持两性间的协调，促进性通讯的演化。反之，该多效性也可能助力交配系统出现变异，例如生殖多态性。目前尚不清楚这两种情形在自然界中的普遍程度。在夏威夷考艾岛的太平洋田野蟋蟀（Teleogryllus oceanicus）中，一种以单基因座分离的平翅突变（flatwing）可导致雄性快速丧失鸣唱能力。我们采用固定了雄性翅型的远交蟋蟀种群，探究纯合平翅与正常翅（野生型）雌性，在分别与平翅或正常翅雄性配对时，对雄性鸣唱信号的响应性以及交配倾向是否存在差异，实验设置了存在求偶鸣唱与不存在求偶鸣唱两种条件。与正常翅雌性相比，平翅雌性爬上雄性的概率更低。两种基因型的雌性均表现出对正常翅雄性的偏好，且在存在……时的交配概率更高。