PMID: 9539754May 16, 1998Paper

Female preference for swords in Xiphophorus helleri reflects a bias for large apparent size

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Gil G Rosenthal, Christopher S Evans

Abstract

Swordtail fish (Poeciliidae: genus Xiphophorus) are a paradigmatic case of sexual selection by sensory exploitation. Female preference for males with a conspicuous "sword" ornament is ancestral, suggesting that male morphology has evolved in response to a preexisting bias. The perceptual mechanisms underlying female mate choice have not been identified, complicating efforts to understand the selection pressures acting on ornament design. We consider two alternative models of receiver behavior, each consistent with previous results. Females could respond either to specific characteristics of the sword or to more general cues, such as the apparent size of potential mates. We showed female swordtails a series of computer-altered video sequences depicting a courting male. Footage of an intact male was preferred strongly to otherwise identical sequences in which portions of the sword had been deleted selectively, but a disembodied courting sword was less attractive than an intact male. There was no difference between responses to an isolated sword and to a swordless male of comparable length, or between an isolated sword and a homogenous background. Female preference for a sworded male was abolished by enlarging the image of a sword...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 7, 2013·Behavioural Processes·Carlos PassosGil G Rosenthal
Aug 15, 2002·Behavioural Processes·Terry Ord, Christopher Evans
Mar 4, 2000·Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis·J SaevelsJ Hoogmartens
Jan 20, 2006·Behavioral Neuroscience·Adam P DobberfuhlCaroly A Shumway
Dec 10, 2009·Heredity·S A LovelessM B Ptacek
Feb 6, 2008·Zebrafish·Gil G Rosenthal, Francisco J García de León
Feb 6, 2008·Zebrafish·Molly E CummingsMichael J Ryan
Oct 3, 2001·ILAR Journal·R B Walter, S Kazianis
Mar 4, 2011·Biology Letters·Gil G Rosenthal, Michael J Ryan
Jan 1, 1999·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·A L Basolo
Jun 14, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Molly E CummingsMichael J Ryan
Aug 12, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Alexandra L Basolo, Guillermina Alcaraz
Jul 11, 2012·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Molly E Cummings
Jul 24, 2012·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Sara MitriLaurent Keller
Oct 12, 2010·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Sebastian A BaldaufTimo Thünken
Jul 15, 2009·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Melissa L Thomas, Leigh W Simmons
Jan 22, 2011·PloS One·Alex BaumgartnerBrook Swanson
Sep 30, 2004·Genetics·R B WalterS Kazianis
Jun 12, 2004·Photochemistry and Photobiology·David L MitchellRonald B Walter
Jan 16, 2016·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Chun-Chia ChouTakefumi Nakazawa
Aug 19, 2008·The American Naturalist·G G RosenthalM J Ryan
Feb 14, 2006·The American Naturalist·Bob B M Wong, Gil G Rosenthal
Nov 10, 2012·Behavioural Processes·R David MacLaren, Adam Fontaine
Apr 5, 2011·Behavioural Processes·R David MacLarenRan He
Aug 4, 2015·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·T J OrdM Hagman
Feb 21, 2009·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Adam G Jones
May 30, 2009·Developmental Dynamics : an Official Publication of the American Association of Anatomists·Nils OffenGerrit Begemann
Jul 22, 2008·Evolution & Development·Cornelius EibnerGerrit Begemann
Mar 14, 2007·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Molly E Cummings
Oct 15, 2013·Molecular Ecology·Giacomo Bernardi
Mar 3, 2012·Journal of Fish Biology·S B Rhodes, I Schlupp
Jul 31, 2013·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Rongfeng CuiGil G Rosenthal

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