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Male mate choice favors more colorful females in the gift-giving cabbage butterfly

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Abstract

While the phenomenon of male mate choice has attracted considerable attention in the last two decades, whether this sexual selection mechanism could drive the evolution of female ornaments remains poorly understood. Here, we used experimental manipulation of female wing coloration to investigate male mate choice in Pieris rapae, a gift-giving butterfly. Further, we tested whether males’ nutritional status influenced their mating preferences by subjecting larvae to short periods of starvation. We found that males showed significantly more mating approaches toward control females with more colorful wings (higher pteridine content), and that this preference was strongest in low-nutrition males. Additionally, a study of field-collected females revealed that pteridine-based wing coloration was positively correlated with female egg load, which suggests such ornaments may signal female quality. Pteridine-based ornaments are widespread in nature, however their potential as honest signals in male mate choice remains largely unexplored. This work furthers our understanding of how male mate choice and female ornamentation may evolve in species whose mating systems include nutritional nuptial gifts.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Francie Chew for many helpful discussions throughout this project, and Durwood Marshall for statistical advice. This research was supported by an NSF REU award, and Sigma Xi and Tufts Graduate School Research awards to N.T.

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  1. Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Natasha Tigreros, Monica A. Mowery & Sara M. Lewis

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  1. Natasha Tigreros
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  2. Monica A. Mowery
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  3. Sara M. Lewis
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Correspondence to Natasha Tigreros.

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Communicated by D. Kemp

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Tigreros, N., Mowery, M.A. & Lewis, S.M. Male mate choice favors more colorful females in the gift-giving cabbage butterfly. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 1539–1547 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1764-1

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