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A novel, sexually selected trait in poeciliid fishes: female preference for mustache-like, rostral filaments in male Poecilia sphenops

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Abstract

Female choice can often drive the elaboration of male traits, leading to the evolution of secondary sexual traits. In the Mexican molly, Poecilia sphenops (Poeciliidae), some males exhibit a mustache-like structure on the upper maxilla, the function of which has not been previously recognized. The mustache consists of epidermal outgrowths at the edge of the scales that appear to have no sensory function. Trait expression varies within as well as among populations of P. sphenops, but is not linked to male body size polymorphism. In mate choice experiments, female P. sphenops exhibited a visual mating preference for males with mustaches, suggesting that the trait may be sexually selected. Since the mating behavior of P. sphenops involves contact of the male’s snout and the female genital region prior to copulation, we hypothesize that the mustache may also convey tactile signals to the female.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Marion Döbler, Kay Körner, and Dunja Lamatsch for their help in the field. Jens Poschadel helped with laboratory analyses and experiments. Ellen McCoy performed parts of the video playback experiment, and Anne Hansen kindly performed electron microscopy. We thank William Matthews for discussion. Nathan Franssen made the map in Fig. 2. Financial support came from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the University of Oklahoma, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Ethical note

The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Ingo Schlupp.

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Communicated by M. Jennions

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Schlupp, I., Riesch, R., Tobler, M. et al. A novel, sexually selected trait in poeciliid fishes: female preference for mustache-like, rostral filaments in male Poecilia sphenops . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 1849–1855 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0996-y

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