Sexual selection on wing interference patterns in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Animals with color vision use color information in intra- and interspecific communication, which in turn may drive the evolution of conspicuous colored body traits via natural and sexual selection. A recent study found that the transparent wings of small flies and wasps in lower-reflectance light environments display vivid and stable structural color patterns, called "wing interference patterns" (WIPs). Such WIPs were hypothesized to function in sexual selection among small insects with wing displays, but this has not been experimentally verified. Here, to our knowledge we present the first experimental evidence that WIPs in males of Drosophila melanogaster are targets of mate choice from females, and that two different color traits--saturation and hue--experience directional and stabilizi

SUBMITTER: Katayama N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4210313 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature