Drosophila females have an acoustic preference for symmetric males

Nom de la revue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Roshan Kumar Vijendravarma, Sunitha Narasimha, Elsa Steinfath, Jan Clemens, Pierre Leopold
Abstract

Significance

Theoretically, symmetry in bilateral animals is subject to sexual selection, since it can serve as a proxy for genetic quality of competing mates during mate choice. Here, we report female preference for symmetric males in
Drosophila
, using a mate-choice paradigm where males with environmentally or genetically induced wing asymmetry were competed. Analysis of courtship songs revealed that males with asymmetric wings produced songs with asymmetric features that served as acoustic cues, facilitating this female preference. Females experimentally evolved in the absence of mate choice lost this preference for symmetry, suggesting that it is maintained by sexual selection.