Learning decreases heterospecific courtship and mating in fruit flies.
Recent theory and data suggest that adaptive use of learning in the context of sexual behaviour could contribute to assortative mating. Experiments examining this issue indicated that male Drosophila persimilis that experienced courtship and rejection by heterospecific females exhibited significantly lower levels of heterospecific courtship and mating compared with those of inexperienced males. These results indicate that experience in the context of sexual behaviour in fruit flies could reduce gene flow between diverging populations, which may contribute to incipient speciation.
Animal Behaviour Group, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1. dukas@mcmaster.ca
Reuven
R
Dukas
D000818:Animals; D003380:Courtship; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D013045:Species Specificity