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Population-level mating patterns and fluctuating asymmetry in swordtail hybrids

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Abstract

Morphological symmetry is a correlate of fitness-related traits or even a direct target of mate choice in a variety of taxa. In these taxa, when females discriminate among potential mates, increased selection on males should reduce fluctuating asymmetry (FA). Hybrid populations of the swordtails Xiphophorus birchmanni and Xiphophorus malinche vary from panmictic (unstructured) to highly structured, in which reproductive isolation is maintained among hybrids and parental species. We predicted that FA in flanking vertical bars used in sexual signalling should be lower in structured populations, where non-random mating patterns are observed. FA in vertical bars was markedly lower in structured populations than in parental and unstructured hybrid populations. There was no difference in FA between parentals and hybrids, suggesting that hybridisation does not directly affect FA. Rather, variation in FA likely results from contrasting mating patterns in unstructured and structured populations.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Mexican government for collecting permits. Funding came from National Science Foundation IOS-0923825 (GGR), NSF DDIG IOS-1011613 (ZWC), NSF IGERT-0654377 in Applied Biodiversity Science (ZWC), and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Mexico—Clave 0127310 grant in basic science to William Scott Monks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico

    Zachary W. Culumber

  2. Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas de las Huastecas Aguazarca, 16 de Septiembre, 392 Aguazarca, Calnali, Hidalgo, Mexico

    Zachary W. Culumber & Gil G. Rosenthal

  3. Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, TAMU 3258, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Zachary W. Culumber & Gil G. Rosenthal

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  1. Zachary W. Culumber
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  2. Gil G. Rosenthal
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Correspondence to Zachary W. Culumber.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Culumber, Z.W., Rosenthal, G.G. Population-level mating patterns and fluctuating asymmetry in swordtail hybrids. Naturwissenschaften 100, 801–804 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1072-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1072-z

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