title: Divergence in male cricket song and female preference functions in three allopatric sister species.
abstract: Multivariate female preference functions for male sexual signals have rarely been investigated, especially in a comparative context among sister species. Here we examined male signal and female preference co-variation in three closely related, but allopatric species of Gryllus crickets and quantified male song traits as well as female preferences. We show that males differ conspicuously in either one of two relatively static song traits, carrier frequency or pulse rate; female preference functions for these traits also differed, and would in combination enhance species discrimination. In contrast, the relatively dynamic song traits, chirp rate and chirp duty cycle, show minimal divergence among species and relatively greater conservation of female preference functions. Notably, among species we demonstrate similar mechanistic rules for the integration of pulse and chirp time scales, despite divergence in pulse rate preferences. As these are allopatric taxa, selection for species recognition per se is unlikely. More likely sexual selection combined with conserved properties of preference filters enabled divergent coevolution of male song and female preferences.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. matthias.hennig@biologie.hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Ralf Matthias
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hennig
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.|Museum für Naturkunde zu Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blankers
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gray
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002755:Choice Behavior; D006135:Gryllidae / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Acoustic communication; Evolution; Field cricket; Phonotaxis; Sensory filter