{"title":"Mate copying in <i>Drosophila simulans</i>.","authors":"Sabine Nöbel, Tim Eric Kaufmann","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0070","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To find a suitable mate, many animals across taxa use social information. Mate copying is a form of social learning in which individuals use information regarding potential mates by observing and copying the mate choices of other individuals. While mate copying in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> has been extensively documented in the laboratory and its potential for cultural evolution has been demonstrated, little is known about mate copying in other <i>Drosophila</i> species. Here, we report the first evidence that <i>Drosophila simulans</i> females also copy the mate choice of their conspecifics. We used the well-established protocol developed for <i>D. melanogaster</i>: a naive, unmated female first observes a conspecific's mate choice between one artificially coloured green and one artificially coloured pink male and is afterwards allowed to choose between two males of the same phenotypes herself. Just as with <i>D. melanogaster</i>, <i>D. simulans</i> females were more likely to choose the same type of male as in the demonstration. This finding underscores the capacity of <i>D. simulans</i> females to engage in rapid social observational learning, a process that may play a significant role in the evolution of reproductive isolation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250070"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12115842/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biology Letters","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0070","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/5/28 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
To find a suitable mate, many animals across taxa use social information. Mate copying is a form of social learning in which individuals use information regarding potential mates by observing and copying the mate choices of other individuals. While mate copying in Drosophila melanogaster has been extensively documented in the laboratory and its potential for cultural evolution has been demonstrated, little is known about mate copying in other Drosophila species. Here, we report the first evidence that Drosophila simulans females also copy the mate choice of their conspecifics. We used the well-established protocol developed for D. melanogaster: a naive, unmated female first observes a conspecific's mate choice between one artificially coloured green and one artificially coloured pink male and is afterwards allowed to choose between two males of the same phenotypes herself. Just as with D. melanogaster, D. simulans females were more likely to choose the same type of male as in the demonstration. This finding underscores the capacity of D. simulans females to engage in rapid social observational learning, a process that may play a significant role in the evolution of reproductive isolation.
期刊介绍:
Previously a supplement to Proceedings B, and launched as an independent journal in 2005, Biology Letters is a primarily online, peer-reviewed journal that publishes short, high-quality articles, reviews and opinion pieces from across the biological sciences. The scope of Biology Letters is vast - publishing high-quality research in any area of the biological sciences. However, we have particular strengths in the biology, evolution and ecology of whole organisms. We also publish in other areas of biology, such as molecular ecology and evolution, environmental science, and phylogenetics.