Abstract
SEXUAL isolation is considered to be among the most important factors that prevent or inhibit interspecific matings and that maintain species integrity among many animal species1–3. Sexual isolation may result when animals are capable of discriminating between members of their own species and those of other species. Such discrimination may be based on behavioural differences between species (ethological isolation). During the courtship the occurrence of incongruent actions may lead to a breaking off of courtship and/or failure to mate. Interspecific discrimination may also be based on species specific stimuli, auditory, visual or chemical (olfactory and tactile) in nature, which inhibit the elicitation of congruent mating behaviour between heterospecific partners.
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KESSLER, S. Speed of Mating and Sexual Isolation in Drosophila. Nature 220, 1044–1045 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2201044a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2201044a0
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