Consistency in Mate Preferences by Female Guppies Using Male Chemical Cues

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Females often choose mates using multimodal sensory signals from males. However, in many species, it is common for studies to concentrate on mate preferences for specific sensory signals. The guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a model species used to study female mate choice. Mate preference studies in female guppies have concentrated on male visual cues, such as color spot characteristics and courtship activity. Although female chemical cues are known to affect mating preferences in male guppies, knowledge of the effects of male chemical cues on female mating preferences is limited. In this study, we examined the consistency of mating preferences for male chemical cues among female guppies. We repeatedly performed a dichotomous mate choice experiment using the chemical cues of two males for females daily for 6 successive days (“6 days' trials”). The results showed that females preferred one of the two male chemical cues throughout the 6 days' trials, indicating consistent female preference for male chemical cues in this species. In addition, the time spent by females with chemical cues decreased as the 6 days' trials progressed for both males' cues. Males with chemical cues preferred by females possessed larger orange spots than the other males. These results suggest a connection between male chemical and visual sexual signals, and female assessment of better mates using multimodal sensory signals, even in poor visual environments.

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