Abstract
Determinants of male courtship success in Drosophila melanogasterwere examined in groups of five males sequentially presented with five individual females. Thirty-three percent of males never mated, while approximately half of the males mated two or three times. Rapid courtship initiation was associated with male success in early matings only. Male size was important for courtship outcome, but the size distributions of mating and nonmating males and their progeny numbers indicate balancing rather than directional selection on size- dependent courtship success.
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Markow, T.A., Sawka, S. Dynamics of mating success in experimental groups ofDrosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae). J Insect Behav 5, 375–383 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049845
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049845